"If Only I Could Remember It All" [Part 1]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. For all of these offerings, even the ancient Jewish rabbi said, when the Messiah comes, all of them are annulled except for one.

And that is the offering of thanksgiving. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, God Moments, as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It's Pastor Alan's book by the same title, God Moments, and it can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries. As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you a copy of Pastor Alan's book, God Moments, our special offer today. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org. Or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on this later in the program. But right now, let's get started with today's teaching on God Moments.

Here is Alan Wright. Are you ready for some good news? I take it from the Jewish midrash, the rabbinical writings that are alongside of the ancient Scriptures to give you the good news. All korbanos are annulled with the coming of Moshe except for the korban toda. Okay, that's what I'll explain today.

But I promise you that by the end of today, you will understand why that is some of the most extraordinary news you could ever, ever hear. Leviticus 7, verse 11. And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings.

Leviticus 7, verse 11. And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings that one may offer to the Lord. If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the thanksgiving sacrifice unleavened loaves mixed with oil, unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and loaves of fine flour well mixed with oil. With the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving, he shall bring his offering with loaves of leavened bread. And from it, he shall offer one loaf from each offering as a gift to the Lord.

It shall belong to the priest who throws the blood of the peace offerings. And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall not be eaten on the day of his offering. He shall not leave, it shall be eaten, sorry, shall be eaten on the day of his offering.

He shall not leave any of it until the morning. And then I want to read to you a text in Hebrews, the book of Hebrews, which again, if you're new to your Bible, can seem very complicated. But Hebrews is giving the New Covenant picture of the fulfillment of old Levitical law that has all come to pass in Christ.

And in Hebrews chapter 13, verse 9, do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. And he's making reference here to Levitical laws about foods and offerings. We have an altar from which those who serve the tent, speaking of the priest in the old tabernacle, have no right to eat because the priest would often be the beneficiaries of the sacrificed animals or grain offerings that would come to the tabernacle. And now, instead, verse 11, for the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore, let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured, for here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. Through him, then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

What is all that about? It is essentially saying this, throughout the book of Hebrews, we're seeing that Jesus came as a fulfillment of the Old Testament sacrificial system, and that he was the ultimate sacrifice. He was the Passover lamb, and he is the offering that was prefigured in all of the offerings of Leviticus 1 through 7. And now, we are no longer nourished by the foods that are offered at the tabernacle. We're no longer atoned for by the blood of those animals, but instead, it has all taken place in Jesus, and he is our sacrifice, and he is our offering.

But then, the writer of Hebrews then does something very interesting. He says, but let us continually offer the sacrifice or offering of praise or of thanksgiving to God. There were in Israel, if you were to go and study Leviticus chapters 1 through 7, what you find out is that there are five primary types of offerings that are mandated in the Mosaic law. I'm going to try not to get this, they are somewhat tedious to learn and study, because there are many, many types of offerings in different animals that are presented at different times.

And what you need to know is that there were five basic types of these offerings. The burnt offering, which was where the worshiper would come and bring an animal, it could be a variety of kinds of animals that are depicted in Leviticus, and that offering would be burned at the altar and completely burned. So, it was a picture of substitutionary death. No priest or anybody would eat any part of it. So, if you had a very valuable animal and that animal is completely consumed on the altar, nobody eats the filet mignon, nobody has got any leg of lamb, it's all just a substitute burnt offering.

So, it's a real sacrifice, real sacrifice. Then there were grain offerings in which there were no meat that was offered, nothing, animals were sacrificed. But in these various grained offerings, this was always in common, as we'll see a little bit more about, they were unleavened, bring loaves and things that had no yeast in it, and a portion of it would be put on the fire and a portion would be eaten by the priest or the priest's family. So, these grain offerings were one of the primary ways that the priests were fed. And always with this, again, there was no leaven that would be in any of the breads that were offered, but there would be a little salt, okay. Leaven is something that happens through a process of decay. Salt is what the ancient world understood preserves things.

It would have a pinch of salt, but absolutely no leaven in it. The third main category of offerings are called peace offerings. And within the peace offerings, there were freewill offerings, vow offerings, and the thanksgiving offering.

That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. God's always been there in every moment you narrowly escaped from danger, in every moment you were surprised by a blessing, in every moment you just knew the direction to take. God was there. Your life is defined by countless moments of God's grace. Perhaps they've been covered by the sands of time or have just gone unnoticed in the rush of life, but your life is full of God moments. When you make a gift today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's heart-stirring book, God Moments, that will lead you on a spiritual treasure hunt to uncover your God moments. It's Alan Wright's timeless book, God Moments.

Discover your God moments in the past and be filled with fresh faith today. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues.

Here once again is Alan Wright. The Thanksgiving offering, the word for offering in Hebrew, the most often used is korban. So the korban, the offering of thanksgiving, was known as the korban todah, the thanksgiving offering.

That's our subject today. The fourth kind of category, sin offerings, where when you had sinned, you would bring a sacrifice and it would be deemed as payment for your sin. And fifthly, the trespass offering, like the sin offering, was deemed to be payment for sin. But this was specifically in the case where there had been monetary fraud and there were specific requirements for the one making the trespass offering, where you would pay back what had been stolen, plus one fifth would go to the priest and one fifth would go to the person that had been offended. Five different categories of offerings, and these offerings taking place throughout the year.

There were, in addition to this, seven festivals throughout the year in Israel, three in the spring, 50 days later the Pentecost or Feast of Weeks, and then in the fall three other festivals all clumped together with the Day of Atonement in the center of that. And so I'm just trying to give you a picture that in the life of Israel, the entire religious and cultural life of Israel revolved around all of these offerings and sacrifices. You could think of an offering as kind of the general heading and a sacrifice of an animal, a subheading of that. So when I say offering, I may be referring to grain or to an animal. When you say a sacrifice, normally you were talking about a live animal that was then sacrificed.

And all of this was absolutely integral in the life of Israel. When the people of God sinned, God had given them a way to know that at least for the time being, like a minimum payment on a credit card debt, that they were going to be covered. It didn't pay off their debt. It didn't remove their guilt. It just made them temporarily acceptable to God. And so it was a wonderful thing if you're plagued with all of this guilt from all of your sin to have some very specific instructions from the Lord, here's what you do in order to have this temporarily covered or atoned for.

All right? So a lot of these, like the sin offering, the trespass offering, they were mandatory offerings. It was mandatory, for example, you would bring a lamb at Passover and all of that. But there were some that were purely voluntary. And the ones that were voluntary, you especially would see the most often would be these peace offerings, the third category I mentioned. And again, in the peace offering, there are several different kinds, but one of them, and the most prevalent of them, was the korban toda, the offering of thanksgiving. And this was voluntary.

You could offer this at any time. Only one instance was it mandatory that you make an offering of thanksgiving, and that was if you had been spared from a near-death situation. If your life had been in jeopardy and you had been spared, then you had to make an offering.

And so, I began today by quoting from the ancient Jewish midrash, the writings that come alongside of the ancient scriptures to interpret them and are seen as tradition but of binding significance. And the midrash, the ancient Jewish scholars said, and now I'll translate it to make more sense, that all offerings are annulled with the coming of the Christ except for the offering of thanksgiving. Of all of the offerings that pervaded the life of Israel throughout its entire year and all of its seasons with all of the rams and oxen and bulls and turtledoves and all the grave offerings and sheafs of grain that are waved before the Lord, before all of these offerings, even the ancient Jewish rabbis said, when the Messiah comes, all of them are annulled except for one, and that is the offering of thanksgiving. I want to talk to you about the offering of thanksgiving, the only sacrifice that still remains. People are always asking me, well, as a preacher of grace, you always talk about what Jesus paid it all, Jesus did it all, he paid it all, he paid it all, Jesus paid it all, Jesus did it all, Jesus covered all my sin, Jesus has made God propitious towards me and I've received his unmerited favor, then what is there left for me to do?

I'm going to tell you what you need to do. Praise him. Thank him.

It's the only thing that remains to do. You see, gratitude, and this is what we're going to see in the picture of this thank offering, gratitude is only possible when you are aware that something has been done for you. The more that you are aware of what has been done for you, the more grateful you are. People who are ungrateful or unaware are blind to all that has been done for them, blind to the gifts that have been given. If you don't see your life as a gift from God, then you're missing out on this principle of gratitude in daily living. It's why the Christian is exhorted to wake up in the morning and say, this is the day the Lord has made and I'll rejoice in it because I was not guaranteed or entitled this day, this day was a gift to me.

Oh, I tell you, the most of the things that God has done for you, you don't even know. Years ago, I had a little boy, Bennett was little, it was coming up on Mother's Day, and I started thinking all about how much my mom had done for me and I didn't know it. And I wrote her a long letter, dear mom, I wish I could remember what it was like for you when I was waiting to be born, it was cozy for me during those nine months, just floated and relaxed, what was it like for you? I hope you weren't prone to morning sickness, were you? And did you get tired often? I watched my wife during her first trimester, she salivates at the mere sight of a couch, you had two little boys in one small house, let's see, while I was on the way Mark was one, David was two, how'd you find time to be tired with two toddlers? I wish I could remember so I could say thank you. What was your labor like?

Did you have to work until exhaustion set in or did you have to put up with the side effects of anesthesia? Wish I could remember so I could say thank you for bringing me into the world, how'd you make room for me in the little house on Pershing Court? Did you just let me sleep in your room? Did I cry much at night? How much sleep did you get that first year of my life?

Dad was doing the late weather then, wasn't he? Did you wait up for him to get home even though you had toddlers waking up early the next morning and me crying in the night? I wish I could remember so I could say thank you. If I hadn't come along the Pershing Court house would probably have been big enough, wouldn't it? That first year of my life you built a new house on Pine Top Road, you made it big enough for me to have my own room.

I bet it was a stretch financially. I wonder what you went without in order to make space for me. I wish I could remember so I could say thank you. How did you keep an ear out for me when I took naps?

You didn't have baby monitors in those days. I guess you had to stay close by. Wish I could remember so I could say thank you. I just kept going through my whole life thinking about it. All the trips to the pediatrician Dr. Bimbo with all those earaches that I had. The time that I drank the dog's water and got dysentery.

The time that I fell back in the chair after she said, don't lean back in your chair and I cut my chin and had to go get stitches. I was thanking her for all of those times and I finally got up to my teenage years and I said, what made you keep wanting to be around me when I acted like I didn't want to be around you? And mom, what did you do at home all those nights that I was over at my girlfriend's house looking for a family and her family and when I was in college and didn't write or call very much? How did you keep writing and calling me? I wish I could remember so I could say thank you. Mom, though my memory may fail, my love for you never will.

Thank you. You see how if you would just take five minutes and think about any category of your life and begin to meditate on what has been done for you, you can't help but be thankful. What I'm saying is that God has given you your life. He has woven you together in your mother's womb. There's no life apart from God. Where'd all this come from? It came from God. I'm saying every breath is a gift.

Every day is a gift. We won't know. Maybe we won't know. Maybe we won't know. Maybe we won't know. Maybe we won't know. Maybe we won't know. Maybe we won't know.

Maybe we'll get to know when we go to heaven. Everything God's done for us so that then we'll have eternity to give Him praise. The fact of the matter is that our gratitude grows only in the context of knowing how dire things would have been if we had not been so blessed. Who are the most thankful people in the world?

Who are the most thankful people in the whole world? Alan Wright and today's teaching, God Moments. Stick with us. Alan is back here in the studio in just a moment with additional insight on this for your life and a final word. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing.

It's free and just a click away at pastoralan.org. God's always been there. In every moment, you narrowly escaped from danger. In every moment, you were surprised by a blessing.

In every moment, you just knew the direction to take. God was there. Your life is defined by countless moments of God's grace. Perhaps they've been covered by the sands of time or have just gone unnoticed in the rush of life, but your life is full of God moments. When you make a gift today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's heart-stirring book, God Moments, that will lead you on a spiritual treasure hunt to uncover your God moments. It's Alan Wright's timeless book, God Moments.

Discover your God moments in the past and be filled with fresh faith today. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Alan, I know with the grace message, there's oftentimes a question you say you get asked, and that is, well, Jesus paid it all. It's all done, but what is there for me to do? And if that's the question that's coming, even right now, and just be assured in part two on the next broadcast, we're going to have the full story come down for a landing here in this teaching. Okay, so why did the thank offering last? Why is it still in effect? And what is the answer to that question?

What is there for me to do? It's so amazing that even in the rabbinical writings, it said that when the Messiah comes, all these offerings are going to be fulfilled and expired and no longer valid, except for one, the thank offering. And that's what we live in, Daniel. And that's what I want the listeners to know is that the sacrifices, the acts of righteousness, the things that we might do that would in some way merit God's forgiveness, all of that has been fulfilled in Christ. So there's only one offering that remains, and that is bringing Him the sacrifice of praise. Only one thing remains, and that is to be grateful, to be thankful, to worship Him, and to say thank you for everything that He's done for us, because He has shown us unmerited favor. And what this means, therefore, is that we just, in our lives, have the opportunity to just give Him our ongoing thanks and praise.

And if there's one thing that's left for us to do as far as offering, it's the offering of thanksgiving. So, Allen, I see this all throughout Scripture, looking back and recounting the times when God was there. And oftentimes the word faith is used with that particular practice, right?

It's over and over and over in the Scripture. Remember, remember, remember, commemorate, think on these things, teach these things to your children. Remember what God has done. We're all going to face times where we're going to wonder where's God right now, right? But if you build your life, organize your life, your daily life around recounting, remembering, commemorating, celebrating what you know God has done, then when you face the uncertain times, and you need to draw upon your faith, it's like some deep well that's within you. And so that's what I found in my own life and in so, so many others, that there's tremendous faith-building power. How you remember yesterday is going to determine how you're going to live tomorrow.