"And every chief priest, indeed, stands ministering day by day, and offering often the same sacrifices, which never can take sins from about us. Yet This One, when offering one sacrifice for sins, is seated to a finality at the right hand of God, waiting furthermore till His enemies may be placed as a footstool for His feet. For by one approach present He has perfected to a finality those who are hallowed (worthy).
Now the holy spirit also is testifying to us, for after having declared, This is the covenant which I shall be covenanting with them after those days the Lord is saying, imparting My laws to their hearts, I shall be inscribing them on their comprehension also, and of their sins and their lawlessness shall I under no circumstances still be reminded. Now where there is a pardon of these, there is no longer an approach present concerned with sin." Hebrews 10:11-18 concordant
Everything about the sacrifice of Jesus has spiritual importance and depth for us. This wonder of a High Priest under which our spirit labors, having no better sacrifice to offer, OFFERED HIMSELF. By the offering of Himself, He made no other sacrifice necessary. No other sacrifice can take away our sinful nature, but He can.
The Spirit of God settled upon Jesus in the distant past to guide His footsteps to His appointment with death on a cross. He had been chosen in ages past to be the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The Spirit of God made Him the acceptable sacrifice to finally perfect us, delivering us from all our shortcomings. It is now time for God to prove to you and me that God was in Christ Jesus reconciling the world unto Himself. Now the ministry of Jesus Christ is being extended into the host of heaven. King of God, He is the High Priest of an order of priests.
Many Christians have been called to fulfill this ministry yet few respond in order to be chosen. He is coming in a spiritual order that touches our spirit with that same spirit. Christ within us teaches us daily the wisdom in cleansing our hearts from evil. Our Father inscribed upon our comprehension a consecration prepared for us. This consecration enables us to no longer be fashioned after the old, not after death of any kind. We are now able to live without all the fearful and deceitful ways formed in man since Adam’s fall.
Overcomers of candlestick church worship for the last two thousand years have been made into priests of the Melchizedek order. No other order is needed by those coming to God through the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Now our High Priest's ministry must prove His sacrifice is once for all. It reaches each of us to intercede for all people with a blessing for a completed salvation, a final benediction, a final perfection.
Through this proving He has now brought a delivering salvation to every man, woman, or child who is or has been raised into spiritual Mt. Zion. To present our bodies a sacrifice would be logical, but first our minds must be renewed in order to test what God is saying. God is writing His works into our comprehension, INTO OUR LIFE WHILE WE ARE LIVING. We will see God extend this offer of perfection to the whole creation in due time.
The New Testament offers one sacrifice, which Jesus accomplished in every point. The goal is a final perfection to full growth for a people of whom He is the administrator. This involves steps to glory that are cleansing works done by gaining the same inheritance as the Lord's. He changes us to receive holy behavior as a sacrifice that will work in our spirit, our soul, and our body, as clearly set forth by the apostle Paul:
"I am entreating you, then, brethren, by the pities of God, to present your bodies a sacrifice, living, holy, well pleasing to God, your logical divine service, and not to be configured to this eon, but to be transformed by the renewing of your mind, for you to be testing what is the will of God, good and well pleasing and perfect. " Romans 12:1-2 concordant
In presenting our bodies a sacrifice unto the Lord, we are made LIVING SACRIFICES. We become sacrifices by walking after the Spirit, proving to know the right mind, in ways of believing about the sacred scriptures. Each of our daily experiences can be used by God to transform us into what He requires. Every time we allow a renewing of our mind to really prove what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God, it is indeed our REASONABLE SERVICE to believe differently than ideas of the present era.
Being of a sane disposition, we do prove His sacrifice is sufficient to loose us from every addiction, to change our mindsets, and mold HIS SAME LIFE within us. Final perfection in our faith is certainly being freed from former faults, with every way leading to death, hell, and the grave broken within our hearts. Now we are praying God will prove that His will is to save us to the uttermost and bring all men to the knowledge of the truth.
"Let love be unfeigned. Abhorring that which is wicked, clinging to good, let us have fond affection for one another with brotherly fondness, in honor deeming one another first, in diligence not slothful, fervent in spirit, slaving for the Lord, rejoicing in expectation, enduring affliction, persevering in prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, pursuing hospitality.
Bless those who are persecuting you: bless, and do not curse, so as to be rejoicing with those rejoicing, lamenting with those lamenting, being mutually disposed to one another, not being disposed to that which is high, but being led away to the humble. Do not come as being prudent yourselves. To no one render evil for evil, making ideal provision in the sight of all men, if possible, out from yourselves.
Being at peace with all mankind, you are not avenging yourselves, beloved, but be giving place to indignation, for it is written, ‘Mine is vengeance! I will repay!’ the Lord is saying. But if your enemy should be hungering, give him the morsel, if he should be thirsting, give him to drink; for in doing this you will be heaping embers of fire on his head. Be not conquered by evil; but conquer evil with good." Romans 12:9-21 concordant
To conquer evil with good, do this indeed: EVERY DAY SET GOD’S SACRIFICE IN YOUR SPIRIT. With every opportunity before us, become aware to prove and test out WHAT THE WILL OF GOD IS IN EVERY MATTER. If we are faithful in small matters, He grants us proof in greater measures. Has God made our bodies a living sacrifice?
"By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually (in our hearts), that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased…" Hebrews 13:15,16
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise." (Psalms 51:17
Partaking in the sacrifice of praise in no way infers that we must consistently and persistently mouth words of admiration and thanksgiving to God as worship when we in no way feel like doing so. Many church leaders feel they must wring some praises out of their dull congregates’ soulish senses in order to offer up a sacrifice of praise in worship meetings. To the contrary, the sacrifice of praise is coming from Christ's victory enthroned within a happy heart, JOY being one of the very BEST of Godly qualities.
In the Old Testament, the lambs brought for sacrifice were without blemish, painstakingly selected and carefully and reverently brought to the Tabernacle door. There are many beloved Christian brethren now being led by God like lambs to the slaughter, without a peep of blame or accusation. No vengeance is required by them, they are blameless. NO BLAME is now found in them, nor the spirit of it. For these have learned to take wrong with glee, like the Apostle Paul, raised in the awesomeness of His presence to taste a lasting glory that launches joyous waters down to mingle with our tiny rivulet.
We are carried away until we are borne out into heaven’s great sea of glass, there to find Christ within raising praise and thanksgiving to God for being our Father. HAVING OUR PRAISE COME FROM A HAPPY HEART IS THE SPIRITUAL SACRIFICE THAT MATTERS. Praise is one of the purest forms of worship of which we are capable. Its power has the transcendent service of opening heaven to prove what is the will of God. As we see what He has done, we are ever to be breaking forth in shouts that change our minds with music and messages about the person of Jesus.
In this blessed realm of God we have been granted oneness with all we need in order to abound. Thanksgiving fills the inhabitants of these bright dimensions of the New Jerusalem order. And why should not our earthly tasks be wrought in the same heavenly chorus? It becomes us to gather up and express the sentiments of His spirit which are held mutely dumb by our flesh. Sacrifices of praise awaits our time of offering at the altar of God’s plan. This sacrifice is not what is offered before the eyes of men, but rather an ATTITUDE OF HEART. We are to gain thankfulness in our entire disposition, in our spirit which must dominate instead of our soul.
The daily expression of being “led of His Spirit” is doing right from the heart and only from God. It is the SPIRIT of sacrifice that God honors as true sacrifice. What is coming from our hearts that is formed during the nitty-gritty of everyday experience, under the pressures and problems of life? Have we learned to turn to what is expressed in our inner spirit, to trust what is revealed as being the true deposition of God, the will of God toward others and toward ourselves?
More than words, this disposition of various Christ-like attitudes becomes a WAY OF LIVING. Being a sacrifice to Christ within transforms our spiritual being to become indwelt with a divine STATE OF BEING. GOD is our FATHER, and it is the result of His writing on our hearts that we are “out-raying” what He wrote.
Our hearts are testing what is perfect by experience. We do appreciate the nature of love, grace, and mercy that flows into our spirit from trusting one sacrifice that makes us glad. I take great spiritual liberty to praise the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He has accomplished so much more than we could sacrifice, yet to praise Him and be thankful—THAT is being a spiritual sacrifice:
"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." Hebrews 13:15