Total Sacrifice
We must be willing to sacrifice everything for God.
Genesis(23) (Part of the Origins(23) series)
by Stuart Johns(25) on September 8, 2024 (Sunday Morning(32))
Direction(2), Faithfulness(3), Obedience(4), Sacrifice(3), Salvation(8)
Origins
Total Sacrifice
(Genesis 8:15-22)
INTRODUCTION
On Sunday, August 25, 2024, Judy and I joined other believers from Jerusalem Chapel and at least four other churches to watch the movie The Forge. It was an incredible movie that had several main themes – the Gospel, forgiveness, discipleship, and mentoring.
The main character, Isaiah Wright, is struggling with the transition to manhood. He is at odds with his mother who eventually challenges him to step up or move out.
The owner of Moore Fitness, Joshua Moore, takes him under his wing and begins to mentor him both spiritually and professionally. During one mentoring session, Joshua shares with Isaiah that being a disciple of Jesus means that he has to deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Jesus. When Isaiah asks Joshua what it means to deny himself, Joshua shares a personal story about his love for golf. He would play two to three times a week, but when he became a disciple of Jesus, he only played two to three times a year. As Isaiah tries to process this information, he says, “But, golf isn’t bad, is it?” Joshua’s response is, “No, but it had a higher priority than my relationship with Jesus.” Later in the movie as Isaiah is growing in his walk with the Lord, there is a scene where he is reading the Bible and praying. He asks the Lord to reveal anything that has a higher priority in his life that he needs to be sacrificed. The Lord reveals to him that playing video games has a higher priority in his life. Isaiah makes the decision to sacrifice his video game system, so he can pursue a closer relationship with the Lord. He packs up his game system, controllers, and games and puts the box on the kitchen counter with a note that reads, “For pawn shop.”
I am reminded of Jesus’ teaching about the cost of being His disciple. Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life – he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:25-27)
The Greek word for “hate” is better translated as “love less.” Jesus is saying that we have to love Him more than we love our family and even our own life. That definitely talks about sacrifice – total sacrifice.
BODY
ME
Loving Jesus more
Judy and I have tried to live out that command in our own lives
Most of our married life, we have lived away from family, so that we could serve the Lord in various ministries
When considering the move to Jerusalem Chapel, we again told the Lord we would go wherever He wanted us to, even if that meant leaving our children and their families
We are striving to love Jesus more as we daily take up our crosses and follow Him
WE
Loving Jesus more
What is God calling you to sacrifice, so you can be His disciple?
Have you been obedient to that calling?
God instructed Noah to leave the ark and he obeyed. The first thing that Noah did after leaving the ark was to build an altar and sacrifice some of the extra clean animals God had told him to take on board. As we will see in verse 20, Noah sacrificed burnt offerings to the Lord. Noah sacrificed the entire animal to the Lord and did not hold any of it back. We can learn from Noah’s example that . . .
BIG IDEA – We must be willing to sacrifice everything for God.
Let’s pray
GOD (Genesis 8:15-22)
God’s Word (vv. 15-17)
God spoke to Noah
Pastor Greg shared with us last week that Noah patiently waited for God to dry out the land after the flood
Noah did not run ahead of God’s timing, but waited patiently to hear from Him
PRINCIPLE #1 – God will direct us when we listen to Him.
Noah already knew the ground was dry, because he had removed the covering from the ark and saw that it was dry
Yet, he waited to hear from the Lord before he disembarked
Me
I don’t know about you, but there are times when I think I know when to move without waiting to hear from the Lord
The result of moving before hearing from the Lord usually doesn’t work out so well
But, when I wait to hear from the Lord, before I move, He always directs my path
You
How about you?
Have you experienced the same thing as me? (moving before hearing from the Lord and moving after hearing from the Lord)
Do you feel like you are currently in a holding pattern waiting to hear from the Lord?
I want to encourage you to wait on the Lord, listen for His direction, and then move
#1 – My Next Step Today Is To: Wait to move on ___________ (situation) until I get direction from the Lord.
PRINCIPLE #2 – God’s timing is perfect!
Too often we move ahead of the Lord, because we are afraid we will miss an opportunity
God’s timing is never early and it is never late – it is always right on time
Our impatience with God’s timing speaks volumes about what we truly believe concerning God
Our impatience says:
God’s timing isn’t perfect
God isn’t holy, good, faithful, and sovereign
God isn’t eternal, omnipotent (all-powerful), and omniscient (all-knowing)
“Obeying the will of God involves not only doing the right thing in the right way for the right motive, but it also means doing it at the right time.” [Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, Old Testament, Genesis-Deuteronomy, 50]
Psalm 31:14-15a, But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in your hands;
We can trust God’s perfect timing! (He will never fail us)
What did God say to Noah?
“Come out of the ark”
This command included Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives, and all the animals on the ark
God also gave the reason why they were to come out of the ark – “so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it”
God spoke and Noah listened and then moved
Noah’s Willingness (vv. 18-19)
Obedience
Noah, his wife, his sons, and his son’s wives obeyed God’s direction
“The almost word for word pattern of 8:16-17 and 18-19 illustrates Noah’s consistent obedience. Calvin remarked, ‘How great must have been the fortitude of the man, who, after the incredible weariness of a whole year, when the deluge has ceased, and new life has shone forth, does not yet move a foot out of his sepulchre, without the command of God.’” [Waltke, Genesis: A Commentary, 141-42]
The animals also obeyed God’s direction
PRINCIPLE #3 – God is pleased when we obey Him.
This has been a recurring theme in the narrative about Noah’s life
Genesis 6:22, Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
Genesis 7:5, And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.
Noah was characterized as a person who obeyed the Lord
Are we characterized as people who obey the Lord?
What we see next is Noah’s first action after leaving the ark
Noah’s Worship (v. 20)
Noah built an altar, so he could worship the Lord
“The point here is that Noah’s first act indicates his faith that God had brought him through the Flood.” [Hamilton, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament, The Books of Genesis, Chapters 1-17, 307]
Noah was grateful that the Lord had spared he and his family from the death and destruction that the rest of humanity had experienced
PRINCIPLE #4 – Worship is our way of acknowledging God’s faithfulness to us.
Take a moment to reflect on God’s faithfulness to you
What kind of storm(s) has He brought you through?
How did He protect and provide for you through the storm?
Did you acknowledge His faithfulness to you after the storm?
#2 – My Next Step Today Is To: Acknowledge God’s faithfulness to me by worshiping Him for providing, protecting, and/or sustaining me through __________ (storm).
The building of an altar was significant
“It means proclaiming Yahweh’s name over an area; it signifies that this area belongs to Yahweh. And it means recognizing this place as a place where Yahweh has acted.” [Goldingay, Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Pentateuch, Genesis, 149]
I think that is significant and beautiful!
I’m not encouraging us to build altars in our backyards to commemorate God’s faithfulness to us, but perhaps we can have memorials that remind us of His faithful protection and provision through a difficult time in our lives
When we look at those memorials we can remember and recognize that the difficult time belongs to the Lord and that the Lord acted on our behalf
Noah did not build the altar as a showpiece, but as the foundation of his worship through sacrificing clean animals and birds
Clean animals
I mentioned during the message on Genesis 7:1-10 that we are not given a list of the clean animals and birds, but that later Scriptures could potentially give us an idea of some of those animals and birds
In Leviticus 1:3-16, the Lord listed the animals that were acceptable for sacrifice (sheep, goat, bull, dove, or pigeon), which would have been considered “clean” animals
If you remember, from that same message, Noah took seven pairs of clean animals and birds, and now we know the reason why the Lord commanded Him to do that
The Lord knew Noah’s character and that he would, upon leaving the ark, immediately worship the Lord by sacrificing animals
This protected the clean animal and bird lines from becoming extinct
Burnt offerings
“In the Old Testament days, when you sacrificed a burnt offering, you gave the entire animal or bird to the Lord with nothing kept back (Lev 1). ‘All on the altar’ (v. 9) was the biblical law, because the sacrifice symbolized total dedication to the Lord.” [Wiersbe, 50]
We see this total personal dedication and commitment in the historical account of Abraham
Genesis 22:1-3, 13-14, Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. . . . Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
God was asking Abraham to completely sacrifice his son, Isaac
When God provided the ram as a substitute for Isaac, Abraham sacrificed the entire ram as a burnt offering
PRINCIPLE #5 – God is honored when our sacrifice shows our total dedication to Him.
In the opening illustration, Joshua Moore sacrificed golf and Isaiah Wright sacrificed video games to show their total dedication to the Lord
Judy and I have sacrificed living close to family to show our total dedication to the Lord
What have you sacrificed to show your total dedication to the Lord?
What is God calling you to sacrifice to show your total dedication to the Lord?
We must be willing to sacrifice everything for God.
#3 – My Next Step Today Is To: Sacrifice _________ to show my total personal dedication and commitment to the Lord.
Noah’s first action was to show his total personal dedication to the Lord who had provided, protected, and sustained him during the flood
Next we see the Lord’s reaction to Noah’s burnt offering
God’s Wisdom (vv. 21-22)
God smelled the pleasing aroma of Noah’s burnt offering
“Play-Doh was originally invented as a substance to remove soot from wallpaper, and it wasn’t until decades later that it was marketed as a product for children. And now, in a manner of speaking, Play-Doh is returning to its roots.
The latest Play-Doh innovation is a product line entitled “Grown Up Scents,’ and according to Play-Doh general manager Leena Vadaketh, it’s designed to appeal to the sensory cravings of adults. Notable examples include “Overpriced Latte,’ ‘Lord of the Lawn,’ ‘Mom Jeans,’ and ‘Grill King.’
Source: Hannah Sparks, “Play-Doh ‘adult version smells like coffee, meat, sneakers,” New York Post (10-29-20).
[https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2020/december/play-doh-releases-scented-product-line-for-adults.html]I don’t know about you, but I will stick with the original Play-Doh scent – it is a pleasing aroma to me
God was pleased and found favor with Noah and his sacrifice
This should not surprise us, knowing that Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God (Gen. 6:9)
“You see, even though the external flood couldn’t deal with the internal depravity of man, the fragrance of Noah’s sacrifice – a sweet-smelling savor unto the Lord – overpowered the stench of sin.” [Courson, Jon Courson’s Application Commentary, Old Testament, Volume 1: Genesis – Job, 41]
God said in His heart
God made a promise to Himself, before He communicated it as a covenant with Noah and his family (Gen. 9:11)
He would never again curse the ground because of humanity or destroy all living creatures
Cursing the ground did not deal with humanity’s heart condition
Destroying all living creatures did not deal with our desire to have our own way
“If we translate 8:21 ‘for,’ then we have God saying, ‘The human heart is incurably wicked. The Flood wiped out the transgressors, but it couldn’t change hearts. Therefore, to have another judgment won’t solve the problem.” If we translate it ‘even though,’ then we have God saying: ‘Yes, they deserve judgment because their hearts are wicked. And to persist in sin and not learn their lesson from this flood only shows how evil they are. But in grace, I will not send another flood or curse the ground.’ Perhaps both are true. The important thing is that God spoke these words in response to Noah’s sacrifice, and that the sacrifice was a picture of the sacrifice of Christ (Heb. 10:1-10; Eph. 5:2). . . . [Therefore, God can say] ‘I will not send another flood and wipe out the human race. Instead, I will offer them My great salvation.” [Wiersbe, 51]
As we will see in the coming weeks, sin still scarred the hearts of Noah and his family – sin was not completely destroyed by the flood
God would take a more direct and personal approach to dealing with sin – sending His perfect Son, Jesus
“Thus this verse functions as a ringing testimony to the mercy of God, who henceforth will not give man his just deserts. The punishable will not be punished.” [Hamilton, 310]
Gospel
Sin – God recognized that we are born with a desire to have our own way (born sinners)
Every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood (Gen. 8:21b)
Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me (Ps. 51:5)
Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward and speak lies (Ps. 58:3)
“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Rom. 3:10-12)
Love – But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8)
Sacrifice – God sent His Son, Jesus to take our punishment for sin
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21)
Be imitators of God, therefore as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Eph. 5:2)
Read Hebrews 10:1-10
God was willing to sacrifice His Son for us.
Salvation – “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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:16-17)
We must be willing to sacrifice everything for God.
#4 – My Next Step Today Is To: Believe in Jesus for salvation so I can have eternal life.
Reaffirmation of normal rhythms
God also promised to reestablish what had been interrupted, for a year, by the flood
In his providence, God will preserve the earth’s cycles until the end of time
“The Flood had interrupted the normal cycle of the seasons for a year, but that would never be repeated. Instead, God reaffirmed that the rhythm of days and weeks and seasons would continue as long as the earth endured. . . . Each time we go to bed for the night, or turn the calendar to a new month, we should be reminded that God is concerned about Planet Earth and its inhabitants.” [Wiersbe, 51]
YOU
What situation do you need to wait to move on until you get direction from the Lord?
What storm do you need to acknowledge God’s faithful provision or protection through, by worshiping Him?
What do you need to sacrifice in order to show your total personal dedication and commitment to the Lord?
Are you ready to believe in Jesus for salvation so you can have eternal life?
WE
What situation do we need to wait to move on until we get direction from the Lord?
What storm do we need to acknowledge God’s faithful provision or protection through, by worshiping Him?
What do we need to sacrifice in order to show our total dedication and commitment to the Lord?
CONCLUSION
“Legend has it that G. K. Chesterton, the famous philosopher/theologian, was asked by a newspaper reporter what was wrong with the world. He skipped over all the expected answers. He said nothing about corrupt politicians or ancient rivalries between warring nations, or the greed of the rich and the covetousness of the poor. He left aside street crime and unjust laws and inadequate education. Environmental degradation and population growth overwhelming the earth’s carrying capacity were not on his radar. Neither were the structural evils that burgeoned as wickedness became engrained in society and its institutions in ever more complex ways.
What’s wrong with the world? As the story goes, Chesterton responded with just two words: ‘I am.’
His answer is unlikely to be popular with a generation schooled to cultivate self-esteem, to pursue its passions and chase self-fulfillment first and foremost. ... (But) maybe there is something to Chesterton’s answer after all. In fact, theologian Reinhold Niebuhr was fond of saying that original sin—the idea that every one of us is born a sinner and will manifest that sinfulness in his or her life—is the only Christian doctrine that can be empirically verified. Everyone, whether a criminal or a saint, sins. Insofar as that dismal verdict is true, it’s hardly surprising that there is a great deal wrong with the world.”
Source: Margaret Shuster, “The Mystery of Original Sin,” CT magazine (April, 2013), pp. 39-41
[https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2023/may/what-is-wrong-with-world.html].
In order to deal with what is wrong in our world, we must be willing to sacrifice everything for God.