What is a willful sacrifice?
by Brother Larry Lafferty

 

John Chapter 12

23And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. 24Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. 25He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. 26If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

27Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. 28Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. 29The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.

Now I want you to see in the twenty-third verse the Lord says The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. As the Lord approached His time of death, I want you to see that He was very much aware of what was going to occur. A lot of people will present the Lord’s death as if they took Him by surprise, and that they ambushed Him there in Gethsemane, but that is not the case according to scripture. He was very much aware that they were coming. In fact, He woke the others up and said that they were on their way. He knew they were coming, but I want you to see that He had a very good understanding of His death. Today, to us, death is the most horrific thing that could be announced. Death coming and death nearing is just the most horrible sound to these fleshly ears. I want you to see that what He identified death with was that He would be glorified. He said that it would be a glorious thing when it occurs, that The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.

24Verily, verily, (or truly, truly) I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

It was going to be a great benefit for the Lord to die. He gave Himself for a people. He sacrificed Himself to pay the sin debt of a certain group of people. And He accomplished that. Had He not died, there would be no life. That was what He was saying. If that little kernel that you put in the ground don’t rot and the sprout don’t come up, then you’ll never have anything. It was very necessary that the Lord die. Verse 25, this is the one that hits home for us. 25He that loveth his life shall lose it;. Now, we put way to much emphasis on this life. You know how it is in high school, and you’re going to change the world and you’re going to get an education and you’re going to be a superstar and you’re going to do this and you’re going to do that, and everybody is going to know your name. The Bible says that if that is your mentality you’ll lose it. All that may come to pass. All that may be very true, which its not, but how many people really hit the big time. Just say, for example, that it does happen – you will lose your life. That little fantasy is all that you will ever have. You will lose your life. You know, when I was in nursing school, I was going to be the biggest and the best and I was going to write books on critical care nursing, that was going to be my area. But, you know what, I hate that today. I hate that type of nursing. I like someone that I can talk to, that I can hold their hand while they are dying. That is the type of nursing that I like to do. You have to hate those things. I’m afraid that many times we teach our children to love it. We teach them that this is what is going to be great about it, this is what you need to do. But the Lord told us very clear that you better not love this life, or you’ll going to lose it. 25…and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. Could you say within yourself that you hate your life enough to sacrifice it? That is what He was speaking of. I hate my life enough that I’m going to put my wishes and my desires and what I think is right aside as a sacrifice. That is exactly what He was speaking of. Today, we have no sacrifices left. We’ll see that the Lord Jesus Christ made a very willful and deliberate sacrifice at Calvary, and He fulfilled that part of the law and it doesn’t exist anymore. All you have to sacrifice is what you’ve got – your life. Today the thing that is taught in this world is to be what you want to be. If you’re a girl, you can make yourself a boy. If you’re a boy, you can make yourself a girl. There is nothing that you can’t do. But the Bible teaches that you are to sacrifice that. He has a desire for your life. He has a will for your life. He has a plan for your life. We have to sacrifice ourselves to that. We have to give ourselves to that. Now, I want you to see what He has to say in verse 26. This shows what He was saying. 26If any man serve me, let him follow me; Now, I want you to see that service is directly tied to following. If you’re not following that Book as you should, you’re not serving. You can say what you will, and you can make excuses as they seem to come, but it says that if it is your desire to serve the Lord God of Heaven then follow Him. You follow what this Word teaches. Follow Him. 26 … and where I am, there shall also my servant be: That is not saying that we will be in Heaven with Him one day, which we will, but He is saying that when you follow Him to where His will is at, then He’ll fellowship with you. When you arrive at the place where you’ve given all those wordly thoughts up, and you’ve sacrificed your ideas about what is right for His ideas for what is right, when you get to that place, He’ll be there. He’ll meet with you there. He’ll fellowship with you. Then and only then. Then I want you to see 27Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Now, I differ from some brethren on this. I believe that the Lord was troubled at the thought of Calvary. I believe that this explicitly tells that. He says that ‘I am troubled thinking of what is ahead of me.’ I want you to see that it was His desire to do exactly what the Father would have. It was not a pleasant thought to think of the way that He would be beaten the way that He was, but He yielded Himself to it. It was not a pleasant thought to think of the way He would be mocked and ridiculed the way that He was, but He yielded Himself to it. He said ‘This is why I am here.’ Have you ever thought about why you are here? Have you ever thought about how God has put you in certain circumstances, and where you arrive at and why are you here? Has He placed you in this place to preach the Gospel, what has He done with you, why are you here? Then notice what He says 28Father, glorify thy name. He wasn’t interested in His own plan. You know, that is the problem today with us, and that is what hinders our service, we are far too concerned with what we want. ‘Well, I would serve Him, but…’ How many times have you heard that? ‘I would serve Him, but I’ve got to do this and I’ve got to do that first.’ Jesus wasn’t saying that. He dreaded the cross, He dreaded the forty stripes save one, but He wanted to glorify the Father. That was His concern.

28… Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. Now, I want you to notice this, the Lord God’s name is going to be glorified. You can contribute to that, or you can attempt to reduce it, but in so doing you will still glorify it. His name is going to be high and lifted up, and is going to be where people can see it. Now, in the Old Testament, we are going to see how sacrifices were to be done. You know a lot of people think that the Old Testament has been set aside, but it is very much for our learning.

Exodus Chapter 30

1And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it. 2A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be: and two cubits shall be the height thereof: the horns thereof shall be of the same. 3And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about.

Now, I want you to see that this place where the sacrifice was to be laid was to be covered in pure gold. Gold always represents purity. So, when the sacrifice finally came, when it came in reality, it was going to have to be pure. All down through the ages they used animal sacrifices, and we’re going to look at that briefly, but when it came down to real sacrifice that atoned sin truly, it was going to have to be pure.

4And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal.

The altar had big golden rings and that is where they put the rod in it, because they weren’t allowed to touch the altar itself. It was so holy and it was the place that bore sin and they could not touch it directly. They had to put those staves in it and pick it up from a distance, and that’s how they would carry it. It was that holy. I want you to see also that it had two rings on every corner. Anytime you find the number two in the Bible it is always one of two things: witness or division. I believe this time it is for witness. This is the right way it is to be done. It is by witness.

5And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. 6And thou shalt put it before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee.

Now, I want you to see it was back in the holy place. He wanted it back there with the mercy seat, back there in the holiest place of all.

7And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. 8And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.

On the flat portion of this, there was incense burning all of the time. The two horns that they talked about it were touched only once a year.

9Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon,..

So they couldn’t offer what they willed. You know that is the problem today. Today it is taught that everything is worship. Everything that you want to be worship is worship. That is not true. It says no strange incense. Remember when Moses was getting the law, and they went to Aaron saying ‘Up, get us a god.’ They made that golden calf, and when Moses came down from the mountain, they were naked and throwing things down to that calf. Was that worship? Certainly not! That doesn’t have anything to do with the great God Jehovah. Don’t you offer up any strange incense, don’t burn anything that is contrary to the law.

10And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the LORD.

So, he would take a little dip of that blood and put it on each of those horns, and that is what made the atonement. That is what paid the sin price, that is what paid the sin debt.

11And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 12When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.

Now, I want you to see the atonement, that little bit of blood put on the ends of each of those two horns, that was for the ransom for the souls of them that were numbered. They would count everybody up and say, well this one has so many in his house, and that one has so many and so on and they would get all those numbers together of the Jews living in that day, and give the sum to Aaron and he would make the atonement for them. It was not limitless. Not everybody on the earth was involved. Those outside the Jewish nation could not participate. It was for those Jews living. It was for the number given Aaron, that was who the ransom was for, and that is a type of the atonement.

John Chapter 10

14I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

Now, I want you to notice two things: it is a very remarkable thing, and it ought to make you glad in the Lord, that He was both the good shepherd and He was the Lamb sacrifice. He fulfilled both offices, which had never been done before. A shepherd is absolutely willing to lay down his life for his sheep. He loves them so much, that their protection is all that is important to him. When they continuously run off, and it is not in their nature to stay close to the rest of the group, he will break that sheep’s leg and then nurse it back to health so that it will learn to stay with the group. Now, I bet it breaks his heart, the true shepherd’s, when it comes down to the point where he has break that sheep’s leg. But he does that out of love, not out of spite, not out of anger. He knows that it is important for the sheep’s life. He says 14I am the good shepherd Then, notice the second part of this verse …and know my sheep. He knows His sheep. That is the contrary to what most people teach today. Most people teach that you can be saved a will, whenever you get ready then you just repeat this little prayer and then everything will be super great but the Word says I know my sheep. He knows who they are. It is said of sheep in Jerusalem today that they still use that primitive type of shepherding. When a shepherd goes out and calls his sheep, then only his come to him. They keep them all in a huge group. But, when they get ready to take them out on a mountain, then when a shepherd gives his call then his individual sheep come out. Then another shepherd comes and gives his call and his sheep come out, it is separate and different, and only his sheep respond to his call. I know my sheep. You know, when the gospel is presented and nobody moves, it does not hurt me at all. I mean I love the people, and I would to God that they could say, but those sheep they know Him. That is His department. That blessed call that comes to the inner-man, I have nothing to do with. I simply present the gospel. Then notice, and this is the best part, it says ... and am known of mine. In other words, they recognize Him as much as He recognizes them. It’s the same. You know the first time the Lord began to deal with me about my soul, and my soul began to burn, and I began to understand and know truth about the inner man, that was me beginning to know Him.

15As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

Now I want you to see that this is what is difficult for many; that without Christ we wouldn’t know the Father. The Father Jehovah cannot look on sin. He cannot view it. He cannot see it. So, without the person of Christ we would not know Him. Because of Jesus we have a way to the Father, and that is the only way. …and I lay down my life for the sheep. He didn’t say he lay down His life for the goats, but for the sheep. For the ones He knows, for the ones that are His. I want you to see that it was a very willful act. He was not troubled about it. He was not upset about it. In fact He planned it. He said ‘I’m going to do this.’ They didn’t take His life, He gave it. He gave it willfully to pardon you and me from our sins. He did it deliberately.

16And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

Now, He was still addressing Jews at the time. He came, and He was a Jew, He was the perfect Jew and He fulfilled the Jewish law, and He was addressing all twelve of those Jewish men that were His apostles telling them ‘I’ve got another fold.’ Now, that would be like that same shepherd that came out and made a call. And there were two groups that came to it. One call, but two groups came. 16And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. That is grace. That is what grace bought. It is no longer Jews and Gentiles, it is simply Christian people that the Lord Jesus Christ speaks to. Think of yourself very carefully when it says and they shall hear my voice; Now, if you have never experienced that, dear friend, then you are still lost. If the gospel message has never been real to you, then you’re still lost. If you’ve never seen the certainty of hell and you going there, and you justly deserving to go there, and Jesus the only reason you won’t, then you’re still lost. You know today the recent thing that Southern Baptists are preaching is the ABC salvation. Accept that you’re a sinner, believe in Jesus Christ, and confess your sins. I challenge you to show me where it is in the Bible. He speaks life. He is the one that speaks life. There is no simplistic method to do it. Years ago, in the 70’s it was the Roman’s road. All of the verses in the book of Romans, and you go through them and lead them down the Romans road. Listen, dear friends, if He doesn’t speak life then you can run up and down the Roman’s road until the middle of next week and it would do you no good. He has to speak life to you, and He said that He would; and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

17Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.

Here shows the sovereign power of the Lord Jesus. He says ‘Yes, I’m going to lay it down, but I can easily pick it back up again.’ See all of the sacrifices in years past, and they would go in and cut its throat, and gather the blood and take it in. And there were two sacrifices. The one I just told you about on the altar of incense. And then they would take the rest of the blood and offer it on the mercy seat. And they would do that year after year. But, after the sacrifice was made you never saw any of those goats or sheep get back up and run around. You never saw them back in the goat pen ever again. They were dead. But He said I lay down my life, that I might take it again. Do you see how deliberate and powerful that is? If I pick up a songbook, I did because I want to and I can lay it back down because I want to. They did not take His life. This movie, The Passion, I believe the one of the biggest errors in it is that they show the Lord Jesus being attacked, being ambushed in Gethsemane. He was not. He told them to all calm down, that He would go with them. Remember Peter, he was ready to attack them, but the Lord told him no. He willfully gave Himself for us. Now, I don’t know if you’ve seen very many people die. But I can’t imagine someone saying ‘I’ll do it. I’ll go for them.’ But that is what He did. It was a payment, an atonement for sin.

18No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

The commandment He spoke of, I’m sure, was this… ‘Son, you’re going to have to do it. It is necessary. There is no other way.’ Remember when He went in Gethsemane and He prayed ‘Father if it be thy will, then let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou will.’ I’ve heard people say that He wasn’t dreading Cavalry, but He was. But He willfully did it, He deliberately laid His life down. That is how the sacrifice was to be, He gently went.

Matthew Chapter 27

50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.

Now, I want you to see the wording there is not by accident, He yielded up the ghost. Now, when you yield something, then you allow it, you accept it, you let it be done. Before He had cried ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ The reason is because that our sins were on His back and the Lord God of Heaven could not look upon that. And then He yielded to death. He yielded to it. If we could really get ahold of that it would bless our hearts, that He actually did not have to because He was sovereign and powerful and mighty, but He yielded to it. He said ‘Yes, I’ll do it. Yes, I’ll allow Myself to die.’ He did not even know what death was. He had been from the beginning, and He yielded to it. That is a willful, deliberate sacrifice. That was for my sin and for yours.

Mark Chapter 15

37And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.

Again when you give somebody something, you are yielding to that. They didn’t rip it out of Him. In fact when they decided to deliberately kill because of the Sabbath, they looked and He was already dead. They were going to break His legs. It was because He yielded, it had to be a very deliberate thing. That He did on His own. He gave the ghost.

Luke Chapter 23

46And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.

I want you to see that it said He commended, He gave Himself to that event. Someone that could walk through walls, and be at one place one minute, and somewhere else the next, you don’t think He could have got away from that had He desired? He did it deliberately. When you think of that deliberate act, and you think of the misery and agony of Calvary that was your atonement. It had to be just that way. That beating was just. You know I always marvel at Pilate, because Pilate interceded on His behalf saying ‘Why? What evil hath He done?’ And they insisted and it said that Pilate scourged Him. You see that double standard there? Pilate was trying to intercede on His behalf, but when he saw that he could prevail nothing that Pilate himself scourged Him. Listen, we don’t know what a scourging is. A scourging is a beating like you would never believe: A beating with a cat of nine tails. The recipient was often tied to a post, and then a leather whip with nine pieces with pieces of bone and rock and glass tied to the ends, and when it went across the back it would wrap around them and when they jerked it back it would take huge pieces of hide. Most people did not survive the scourging. I’ve read that many times they beat them so hard, and dug so deep with 39 lashes that their liver fell out of their back before the beating was complete. That is what He endured. But He deliberately endured it. Every drop of that blood was needed.

Hebrews Chapter 9 Now if you want to understand the atonement, then read the book of Hebrews and you’ll understand it. He was very deliberate to that church and very explicit because they were trying to get back into the Jewish law

Hebrews Chapter 9

6Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.

Now this is the one that we just read about. The one golden altar that was a cubit square and they burned incense on it daily and once a year they put blood on the horns of it, it was a daily event.

7But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:

Now, I want you to see that the priest took the rest of the blood back to the mercy seat and dumped it on the mercy seat for him and for the rest of the people. Now I never find this in scripture, but I have always heard that they tied a rope to the high priest’s leg in case God struck him dead, then they could drag him out, because no one else was permitted back there. In case he did it in error, in case he didn’t do something just right and God saw fit to strike him dead, they had a means to get him out. Now, like I said, I don’t know if that is true, but it would make sense since no one else could go back there. Remember Aaron’s two sons? They thought on the altar of incense that they would do a little heebie jeebie with it, and God struck them dead. They had reason to fear, to be upset, to be cautious about the sacrifice.

8The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:

In other words, the means of salvation was not yet complete.

9Which was a figure for the time then present, (A figure, or a picture of what needed to occur. Those animals dying did not atone sin it did not change the nature of the man. It did not change who they were, it was just a type.) in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;

You know when someone tells me that they’ve been redeemed, that they’ve been saved, I always rejoice, but I look for a change in their character, that is real redemption. When they’re saved, when they are truly born again, there is a change of heart. And you won’t have to teach them about it, it will be natural. It will be just as natural as it can be.

10Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. 11But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 12Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us

Now it says all that all that happened in the time of the Jew was just a picture of when the Lord Jesus Christ Himself would take His blood and offer a true atonement on the mercy seat in Heaven for the sins of His people. It happened. Remember when Mary Magdalene seen Him that first morning and she ran to Him and he said ‘Don’t touch me for I have not yet ascended unto my Father.’ He had not made that sacrifice yet and it could not be polluted and profane. It had to be clean when He got there, and He made that sacrifice. I don’t know exactly when it happened, but He did it, because when He got back to Thomas He said ‘Touch Me. Run your hand in My side and you’ll know it’s me.’ They knew exactly who He was. That completed the sacrifice. That completed the atonement for sin. That is the payment. There is no other way.

John Chapter 12

25He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal

The thought is; are you sacrificing? You think about this week that has just past, and I’m not talking monetarily, what have you sacrificed? Any of your dreams, any of your hopes? I think about my wife, as an example, she is a registered nurse, just as I am; she has the same degree I do. She is a very good obstetrics nurse. But the Bible says that women are to be keepers at home; there is no way you can change that. And so, since that is they way it is, she sacrifices that. She enjoyed doing that, she was good at it. We sacrifice ourselves certain things. We have to give up hopes and dreams to be the people that we should be for Christ. We have to give up what we would thing would be good, running around as we please having a big fun time. No, we are to be at home and be with our children. Many times we are to sacrifice our wants and desires to be in the will of God. What are you sacrificing? What have you given up? How close is your home to the example in this book? You want to know how to order your home? Get the how-to manual, the King James Bible. And get it just like this Bible teaches you, but there is a lot of sacrifice involved. What are you doing on a daily basis? The Lord said ‘Whatever your will is, Father, I’ll do it.’ What are you giving up? Are you willfully sacrificing anything? Have you truly ever been saved? Do you that the Lord Jesus Christ spoke life to you? Do you walk with Him in personal knowledge on a daily basis? Does He speak to you out of His Word? Are you " I don’t really know where I am at?" During preaching, do you feel your heart burn? That is a good measure of where you are at? When you read the Bible is it alive? It is a living Word. That is like when I am upset and I can go to the Word and it is kind and nurturing and then a week later it can rebuke me from the same verse. It is living. Does it speak to you that way, or is it empty and dry? Another good measure of where you are at. Another good measure is do you know when the Lord spoke life to you? Can you say "There is where He saved my soul." Do you that it occurred? Do you know that He said ‘You are one of mine.’ Have you been redeemed? Have you been saved? Was the sacrifice for you? Can you see the Lord as He entered the Holy of Holies and emptied that blood out and said ‘ This is for the souls of My people.’ Do you know that He has done that? Amen