Sacrifice

Hosea 6:4-6 - “What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears. Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets, I killed you with the words of my mouth—then my judgments go forth like the sun. For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.



Jeremiah 23:29 - “Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?

1 Samuel 15:22-23 - But Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.”

Psalm 40:6 - Sacrifice and offering you did not desire—but my ears you have opened—burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require.

Micah 6:6,8 - With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?... He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Isaiah 1:17-18 - Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

Jeremiah 7:21 - “‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves!

Application:

· God's Word burns the straw of falsehood and shatters the sinful heart!
· Do I really participate in God's covenant? Do I exhibit steadfast love and knowledge of God?
· Sacrifice without obedience gains nothing!
· Am I able and eager to hear God's law?
· Do I do justice, love kindness and walk humbly as a result of God's redemptive acts?
· Is my repentance superficial?
· Have I rebelled against the Lord? Have I rejected Him?
· Doing good in God's sight includes seeking the just functioning of society!
· Have I reformed my life?
· Useless sacrifices cause God to treat people all alike--with judgment!
· Sacrifices are desirable, but it does no good to offer them without obedience!

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Atoning Sacrifice For Our SIns

1 John 4:10-11 - This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Romans 5:10 - For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

1 John 2:2 - He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 Corinthians 10:14 - Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.

John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Conclusions:

• Man is the enemy of God, not the reverse
• The hostility must be removed from man if reconciliation is to be accomplished
• God took the initiative in bringing this about through the death of His Son
• To reconcile is to put an end to hostility, and is closely related to the term justify
• “Saved through this life” is a reference to the unending life and ministry of the resurrected Christ for His people
• Since we were reconciled when we were God’s enemies, we will be saved because Christ lives to keep us
• God’s holiness demands punishment for man’s sin
• God, out of love, sent His Son to make substitutionary atonement for the believer’s sin
• In this way the Father’s wrath is satisfied; His wrath against the Christian’s sin has been turned away and directed toward Christ
• Forgiveness through Christ’s atoning sacrifice is not limited to one particular group only; it has worldwide application
• Forgiveness must be received by faith
• 1 John 2:2 does not teach that all people ultimately will be saved, it teaches that God is an impartial God
• Corinthian Christians had come out of a background of paganism
• Temples for the worship of Apollo, Asclepius, Demeter, Aphrodite and other gods and goddesses were seen daily by the Corinthians as they engaged in the activities of everyday life
• The worship of Aphrodite, with its many sacred prostitutes, was a particularly strong temptation
• God so loved the world is the great truth that motivated God’s plan of salvation
• Although believers are also called sons of God, Jesus is God’s Son in a unique sense

Application:

• Have you been reconciled?
• Have your sins been atoned for?
• Do you flee from idolatry?
• Are you a son of God?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Atoning Sacrifice For Our Sins

1 John 2:2 - He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 1:29 - The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Conclusions:

• He is the One who turns aside God’s wrath, taking away our sins, and not only ours but the world’s
• God’s holiness demands punishment for man’s sin
• God, therefore, out of love, sent His Son to make substitutionary atonement for the believer’s sin
• In this way the Father’s wrath is satisfied; His wrath against the Christian’s sin has been turned away and directed toward Christ
• Forgiveness through Christ’s atoning sacrifice is not limited to one particular group only; it has worldwide application
• Forgiveness must be received by faith
• 1 John 2:2 does not teach universalism, but that God is an impartial God
• God so loved the world is the great truth that motivated God’s plan of salvation
• The world is all people on earth—or perhaps all creation
• Although believers are also called sons of God, Jesus is God’s son in a unique sense
• Lamb of God is an expression found in the Bible only in John 1
• Many suggestions have been made as to the precise meaning of Lamb of God
• Lamb of God seems to be a general reference to sacrifice, not the name for a particular offering
• John was saying that Jesus would be the sacrifice that would atone for the sin of the world

Application:

• Has God's wrath been turned away from you?
• Are you a son of God?
• Has Jesus atoned for your sins?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible