Considering Sacrifices and the Sacrifice

Today is Fat Tuesday which used to have a different meaning than it currently has in secularized America.  It refers, originally, to the end of the feast in the church year and the beginning of a time of fasting in the church year.  It has turned into a time of feasting, not on food, but sin before fasting from sin.  America has turned it into another excuse to get drunk, naked and engage in immoral activity.

“Fat, drunk and stupid is not any way to go through life, son.”  Dean Wormer

For some, the Lenten practice is to give up something they love or enjoy.  It is something of a sacrifice to fast from TV, drinking, candy etc.  I don’t want to say sacrifice is a bad thing.  I believe I am saved from my sin by sacrifice- the sacrifice of Jesus.  In the Old Testament, the sacrifices were intended to point us to Jesus and His once for all time sacrifice.  Sometimes people fell into the misguided notion that those sacrifices were the real deal.  They missed God’s point since the blood of bulls and sheep can’t take away or cover your sin.

So, for the Lenten season I’ll be preaching on the sacrifices and how they point us to Jesus’ final, abiding sacrifice.  This is an unpopular notion today, that vicarious, substitutionary penal atonement.  Actually it was never all that popular, but attacks against it by supposed Christians are increasingly popular.

“You have not as yet estimated the great burden of sin.”  Anselm

The seriousness of sin is revealed in the remedy for sin.  It is not merely saying “I’m sorry.”  It is not putting an extra 5 spot in the plate (for 5 large for that matter, or the quarter Father Guido Sarducci said masturbating cost).  It required death- the death of an innocent, unblemished victim.  It cost you something.  You were the one to butcher it.  The point should have been clear- sin is not worth its fleeting pleasure but robs me of life.

Sin, therefore, is not pushed aside it must be covered over (the idea of propitiation).  It can’t be covered by any old thing like a stain on the carpet.  Only the blood of the eternal Son who took on flesh can conceal it from the gaze of God.

“God must make me holy SO I might enjoy Him.”

So perhaps your Lenten season would be best used studying the Sacrifice.  Take those hours you’d be on the computer or watching TV to read some good theology about the atonement.  Here are some recommendations:

• The Great Work of the Gospel: How We Experience God’s Grace by John Ensor.  I’m reading this right now and so far it is a great book.
• King’s Cross: The Story of the World in the Story of Jesus Christ by Tim Keller.  I just got my copy in the mail and plan to read it.  He goes through Mark’s Gospel, focusing on the high points particularly on the death and resurrection of Jesus.
• The Priesthood of Christ: Its Necessity and Nature by John Owen.  This is taken from his commentary on Hebrews.  I’ve began reading this a few weeks ago.
• Pierced For Our Transgressions: Rediscovering the Glory of Penal Substitution by Jeffery, Ovey & Sach.  They address the most common modern objections to the historical doctrine and defend the doctrine from Scripture.  A great book.
• The Atonement by A.A. Hodge.  This is very hard to find, but a classic treatment of the atonement.

There are others you can find and read.  But this is the time to ponder God’s great work of salvation- the sacrifice of the Son.