                    [Times Square Church Pulpit Series]

                       The Sacrifice of Thanksgiving!

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By David Wilkerson
July 21, 1997
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     One of the most important verses in all of scripture is found in
     Peter's first epistle. The apostle speaks of the necessity of
     having our faith tested: "That the trial of your faith, being
     much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be
     tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory
     at the appearing of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:7).

     In this same passage, Peter tells us what we can expect to face
     in such tests of faith: "...though now for a season....ye are in
     heaviness through manifold temptations" (verse 6).

     The Greek word used for "temptation" here means "proving,
     examining, testing with difficulties and adversities." One
     translation puts it this way: "putting to proof afflictions."
     Peter is saying, "If you are a follow of Jesus Christ, then
     you're going to go through many heavy trials and temptations. You
     will be tested severely!"

     Peter makes it clear that such tests of faith aren't intended for
     nominal Christians. These fiery trials are meant for sold-out
     believers -- those who are sanctified, obedient, sprinkled with
     Jesus' blood -- Christians who have a "lively hope" because of
     their faith (see verses 2-5).

     Simply put, God is saying to us through this passage: "Your faith
     is precious to me -- more precious than all the wealth of this
     world, which will one day perish! And in these last days -- when
     the enemy sends all manner of evil against you -- I want you to
     be able to stand strong, with an unshakeable faith.

     "Yet, to bring forth such a golden faith in you, I must bring you
     into a place of great testings. After all, precious metals are
     tried only by fire. So, you must know in advance that great
     trials are coming!

     "These fiery trials will last only for a season. You will go
     through a time of great heaviness, sadness, grief, despair. The
     heavens will seem as brass. You'll wonder if your prayers are
     even being heard. At times you'll be tempted to give up.

     "But I will keep you and bless you through every dark day! Your
     part is simply to have faith in me. You will be kept by my power,
     through faith!" "...you, who are kept by the power of God through
     faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time"
     (verses 4-5).

     Beloved, these fiery tests of our faith are important -- because
     God's keeping, delivering power is released according to our
     faith in him. The stronger our faith is, the more his keeping
     power will be released in our lives.

     Paul testifies of having endured such heavy adversities and
     testings: "Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with
     many tears, and temptations, which befell me..." (Acts 20:19).
     The apostle uses the same Greek word for "temptation" that Peter
     does -- meaning, "examining, trying, putting to proof
     adversities." He was acknowledging, "I know that in everything I
     go through, the Lord is trying to mold something in me. He wants
     to bring forth an enduring faith!"

     James writes, "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into
     divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith
     worketh patience" (James 1:2-3). James isn't talking here about
     temptations to lust or follow the desires of the flesh. No -- he
     uses the same Greek word for "temptation" that Peter and Paul do,
     meaning "putting to proof adversities."

     James is saying, "Whenever heavy trials come upon you, rejoice!
     You can be confident that in such times God is at work in you. It
     isn't the devil coming after you, trying to bring you down -- but
     the Lord, who wants to build you up. He is at work, bringing you
     to a place of rest and faith in him!"

     I believe one of the things the Lord most wants to deal with in
     his church is impatience. Impatience is the root cause of all
     murmuring and complaining. Wherever there is impatience, there
     can be no faith.

     And God's people are notoriously impatient! Throughout history,
     we have constantly given God deadlines, crying, "Lord, how long
     do we have to pray about this? Where are you? If you don't do
     something soon, it will be too late!"

     Yet God doesn't answer that kind of prayer. Instead, he keeps on
     testing us -- to get at our impatient spirit!

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                         There Is a Way Out of Our
                          Time of Great Testing!

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     Peter tells us: "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of
     temptations..." (2 Peter 2:9). Again, the same Greek word for
     "temptation" is used, meaning, "putting to proof adversities."

     And Paul writes: "There hath no temptation taken you but such as
     is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to
     be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation
     make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (1
     Corinthians 10:13).

     Very clearly, God does not want to keep us in our trials. Why
     would he be interested in keeping us in the midst of temptation
     and affliction? He doesn't get any glory from testing his
     children -- but from the results of our testings!

     There is only one way to escape our trials -- and that is by
     passing the test. Think about it: When you were in school, how
     did you finally escape? You passed the final exam. And if you
     didn't pass, you were sent back to class.

     That was the case with ancient Israel, when God brought them to
     the Red Sea. God was testing his people, trying them, proving
     them. He brought them to the very brink of destruction --
     surrounding them by mountains on two sides, a sea on another, and
     an approaching enemy on the other.

     James' phrase, "...fall into divers temptations..." (James 1:2),
     refers back to Israel's testings. The phrase means, "being
     lowered into a pit and surrounded by enemies." This is what
     happened with Israel. God dropped them into a literal pit -- a
     humanly impossible situation!

     Yet the Lord put Israel in that circumstance expecting a certain
     reaction. He wanted his people to acknowledge their helplessness.
     He wanted to hear them say, "We remember how God delivered us
     from the plagues. We remember how he brought us out of the
     furnace of affliction, where we made bricks without straw and had
     no rest. The death angel came upon the land -- but not one of our
     children was touched.

     "God delivered us then -- and he will do it again! Let us rejoice
     in his faithfulness. He is God -- and he has given us promises he
     will keep. He will protect us from every enemy who comes against
     us. Now, let's all dance unto the Lord, in gratitude and
     thanksgiving!"

     You might think, "How could God expect Israel to have that kind
     of reaction? They were only human -- and they were in a hopeless
     situation. Were they really supposed to dance in the midst of
     those awful circumstances?"

     Yes -- absolutely! That was the secret to getting out of their
     difficulty. You see, God wants something from all of us in our
     times of overwhelming troubles and testings. He wants us to offer
     him a sacrifice of thanksgiving in the midst of it all!

     I believe James had discovered this secret when he admonished,
     "...count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations..."
     (James 1:2). He was saying, "Don't give up! Make an altar in your
     heart, and offer up joyous thanksgiving in the midst of your
     trials."

     Of course, Israel did offer the Lord praise and thanksgiving --
     but they did it on the wrong side of the Red Sea! Yes, the people
     rejoiced all night -- but God had no pleasure in it. Anybody can
     shout in gratitude after the victory comes. But the question God
     was putting to Israel was, "Will you praise me before I send help
     -- while you're still in the midst of the battle?"

     I believe if Israel would have rejoiced on the "trial side" of
     the Red Sea, they wouldn't have had to be tested again at the
     waters of Marah. Had they passed the Red Sea test, the waters at
     Marah wouldn't have tasted bitter, but sweet. And Israel would
     have seen water springing up everywhere in the desert, rather
     than continually having to go thirsty.

     Instead, God had to keep testing Israel, waiting for their faith
     to arise. Time after time they faced battles, trials, temptations
     -- because they never offered God faith. And those trials became
     more and more difficult and intense -- because the people never
     once stopped in the midst of their testings to give the Lord a
     sacrifice of thanksgiving!

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              The Subject of Thanksgiving Came To Me Recently
                During a Time of Great Personal Heaviness.

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     At the time, our church building needed major work. Parishioners'
     problems were piling up. Everyone I knew seemed to be going
     through some kind of trial. And I was feeling the burden of it
     all.

     Finally, I trudged into my wife's office and blurted to her,
     "I've just about had it! I'm at the end of my rope. I've got to
     take a month off. I want to just disappear and do nothing."

     Then I went into my own office and sat down, feeling sorry for
     myself. I began to complain to God: "Lord, how long will you keep
     me in this fire? How long do I have to pray about all these
     things before you'll do something? Don't you see how weary my
     spirit has become? Everything seems blocked by some obstacle. My
     prayers are as fervent as they've ever been in my life. Yet
     nothing seems to happen. When are you going to answer me, God?"

     Suddenly, the Holy Spirit fell upon me -- and I felt ashamed. The
     Spirit whispered to my heart, "Just begin to thank me right now,
     David. Bring to me a sacrifice of thanksgiving -- for all the
     past things I've done for you, and for what I'm going to do in
     the future.

     "Thank me for the ministry of Times Square Church, for your
     health, for your family, for delivering your wife and daughters
     from cancer. Give me an offering of thanksgiving -- and suddenly
     everything will look different! Your depression will lift. You'll
     have peace in your battle. I will bless your soul with
     assurance!"

     Those words settled in my spirit. But I wondered: "What does the
     Lord mean, 'a sacrifice of thanksgiving'?" I rushed to my
     concordance to look up the phrase in scripture. I was amazed at
     all the references I found:

        * "Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and
          declare his works with rejoicing" (Psalm 107:22).
        * "I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and
          will call upon the name of the Lord" (116:17).
        * "Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make
          a joyful noise unto him with psalms" (95:2).
        * "I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify
          him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the Lord
          better than an ox or bullock..." (69:30-31).

     Also, I remembered the most familiar of all Bible passages on
     thanksgiving: "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into
     his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name"
     (100:4).

     As I read a commentary on this last verse, I discovered that the
     psalmist is referring to the day of atonement in the Old
     Testament. And what a tremendous day that was!

     Under the Old Covenant, Israel held an annual day of atonement,
     in which the people were cleansed from all the sins that had
     built up during the previous year. The atonement was done all
     through a priestly sacrifice. Yet, prior to that day each year,
     there must have been an ugly, black cloud of depression hanging
     over the camp -- because the people were laden down with the
     burden of their accumulated sins.

     What a tremendously meaningful ceremony the day of atonement was.
     The Israelites had to plan weeks ahead for it. Here is what took
     place on that day:

     Two young goats (called "calves" in scripture) were taken to the
     gate of the tabernacle and presented to the high priest as a
     sacrifice. These two goats were to be of equal weight, height and
     purity. A lot was cast, and one of the goats was chosen to be the
     blood sacrifice. A scarlet cloth was wrapped around its neck to
     distinguish it for sacrificing. The other goat was designated as
     a scapegoat and kept outside the holy place.

     The first goat was taken to the altar and slain, where its blood
     was collected in a bowl. The priest then took the blood into the
     holy of holies, where he presented it with incense. As the
     incense burned, it filled the holy of holies with smoke, which
     represented the presence of God. Then the priest sprinkled the
     blood on the mercy seat once, and in front of it seven times.

     Outside, every person in the camp lay prostrate throughout the
     entire sacrificial procedure. No one saw any of it as it
     happened. Yet the ritual meant that atonement was being made for
     their sins. Their transgressions for the whole year were being
     forgiven, or "covered."

     In contrast, the next part of the ceremony was meant as a very
     visible, illustrated sermon for every Israelite to see. Indeed,
     at this point, everyone was to stand and rejoice.

     While still in the holy place, the high priest changed out of his
     special clothes and put on his regular priestly clothes. Then he
     emerged and laid both his hands on the head of the remaining
     scapegoat. Now, the Hebrew word for "scapegoat" means "removal."
     And the priest's act of laying hands on the scapegoat symbolized
     the transferring of all the people's sins to the head of the
     animal:

     "And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live
     goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of
     Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting
     them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the
     hand of a fit man into the wilderness" (Leviticus 16:21).

     The "fit man" mentioned here was a strong, physically fit man
     chosen for the arduous task of leading the scapegoat into the
     wilderness and leaving it there. This man couldn't lead the goat
     to just any place in the desert, however; the animal might wander
     back, and the people would be reminded of their sins. So, he had
     to be physically prepared to lead the goat on a long trip into an
     uninhabited area, a place from which it wouldn't be able to
     return.

     "And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a
     land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the
     wilderness" (verse 22). The phrase "not inhabited" here means "an
     inescapable place." As the fit man led the scapegoat into the
     desert, he would be followed by a band of sentinels carrying
     flags. Their destination was usually a valley surrounded by
     ledges, where the goat would be lowered so it could never escape.

     Now, as the priest laid hands on the scapegoat, beginning the
     second part of the atonement ceremony, he confessed the sins of
     the whole camp. Essentially, he prayed: "Lord, place my sins and
     the sins of the people on the head of this goat. Now, depart!"

     The fit man then put a leash on the scapegoat and led him out of
     the camp. And what a sight that was to the people! All of Israel
     stood watching, cheering, rejoicing as the scapegoat was led
     away. It was an illustrated sermon that everyone -- including
     children -- could understand: "Not only are our sins forgiven --
     but they are taken away from us!"

     The people knew that as that goat was led out of their midst, he
     would never be seen again. And neither would the Lord remember
     their sins. So, a mighty shout went up from the camp!

     This is a beautiful picture of what Jesus Christ does for us.
     Both of the goats represent Jesus -- the lamb who was slain for
     us, and the one who takes away the sins of the world:

     "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we
     did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted" (Isaiah
     53:4). "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the
     tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto
     righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed" (1 Peter 2:24).
     Like the fit man who led away the goats, Jesus has buried our
     sins in a place "not inhabited": "...thou wilt cast all their
     sins into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:19).

                    ------------------------------------

                 Like the Israelites, We Also Are to Enter
                  The Lord's Presence With Thanksgiving!

                    ------------------------------------

     We live in a day when our high priest, Jesus, has already
     presented the sacrifice of his own blood to the father, to make
     atonement for our sins. Christ has wiped out all our
     transgressions, never to be remembered against us. So, for us,
     the work of atonement is finished.

     Yet, like the Israelites, we also are to come into the Lord's
     courts as Psalm 100 says -- with thanksgiving and praise. And we
     are to bring with us two "goats":

     "Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him, Take
     away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render
     the calves of our lips" (Hosea 14:2). The word "calves" here
     represents our lips, or words. The full meaning of this phrase in
     Hebrew is, "We will offer young bullocks, even our lips."

     Our offering of thanksgiving is to be made with the two goats we
     bring -- an offering of our lips, or voices. God is saying,
     "Bring into my presence your words of thanksgiving. Speak, sing
     out your praises to me!"

     We are no longer to bring to God sacrifices of blood or offerings
     of silver and gold for atonement. Instead, we are to bring him a
     sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving from our lips: "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). The "fruit of our lips" is our gratitude
     and thanks!

                    ------------------------------------

                          One of the Most Powerful
                          Examples of This Is Seen
                           in the Book of Jonah.

                    ------------------------------------

     Listen to the words of Jonah: "Thou hadst cast me into the
     deep...the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy
     waves passed over me...the depth closed me round about...I went
     down to the bottoms...the earth with her bars was about me for
     ever" (Jonah 2:3-6).

     Jonah had hit rock bottom, entombed in the belly of a whale. He
     was in a battle for his life -- filled with despair, shame and
     guilt. He was heavy of heart -- literally as low as a person
     could get. He thought God had abandoned him.

     So, how did Jonah get out of his pit? Simply put, he passed the
     test! "When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord...I
     will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving..."
     (verses 7, 9).

     Jonah didn't receive any word of deliverance. He was in a
     hopeless situation, with everything about him dark and gloomy. He
     was ready to faint. Yet, when he came to such a point, he said,
     "I'm just going to thank the Lord!"

     In the midst of all his troubles, Jonah entered the Lord's
     presence with the "calves" of his lips -- and he offered up
     thanks! God answered, "That's what I've been waiting to hear you
     say, Jonah. You've trusted me in the middle of it all. You just
     passed the test!"

     Scripture says, "The Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out
     Jonah upon the dry land" (verse 10). With one command from
     heaven, the fish spit up Jonah onto the shore. And that burdened
     man must have rolled onto the beach shouting, "I'm free! I'm
     free!" He probably danced as he pulled the seaweed from his hair
     -- because he was already at the altar of thanksgiving!

     You may ask, "Brother Dave, if I pass my present test, will that
     guarantee I'll never have to go through another one?" No --
     never! Our faith is continually being drained out of us, simply
     because we live in this fallen, sinful world. The Lord has to
     keep bringing encouragement to us.

     That is why Paul instructs us, "...in every thing by prayer and
     supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known
     unto God" (Philippians 4:6). "Rooted and built up in him, and
     stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding
     therein with thanksgiving" (Colossians 2:7).

     Are you going through a hard time right now? Do you have enemies
     who are wounding you, tearing you apart? Are you facing a
     situation you can do nothing about? Are you weighted down with
     heaviness, sorrow, stress? Do you feel you just can't go on?

     Dear saint, do not be alarmed. It is not the devil who is working
     on you -- but God! The Lord knows you are going to need great
     faith to overcome in the dark times ahead. Indeed, you need to be
     able to stand by faith alone. Yet, he knows your faith must be
     tried by fire -- the fire of affliction, trials, troubles.

     How you react in a crisis determines your walk with God
     thereafter. If you do things your way -- if you don't wait for
     the Lord to work out your situation -- you will stumble the whole
     rest of the way.

     When you have no place to turn, turn to thanksgiving. Thank the
     Lord for his forgiveness -- for releasing you from all past sins.
     Thank him delivering you from the teeth of the lion...for giving
     you a new home in glory...for all his past blessings, for all his
     promises, for all that he is going to do. In everything, give
     thanks!

     We serve a God who will spew us out of our deepest crisis and
     onto a safe shore. So, make an altar to him in your heart right
     now, in the midst of your crisis. And bring to him your sacrifice
     of thanksgiving!

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