Title: Sacrifice II
Contents
Two types of people appear in today's text. One class is Gentiles who sacrifice to demons (idol worshipers), and the other class is believers and worshipers of God (those who walk with God). The Apostle Paul also expresses it well in Ephesians 2 that we lived by sacrificing to demons at a time we did not know. who followed the prince of the power of God, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, in whom we all once lived, following the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like others, who were rich in mercy. Because of the great love with which God loved us, he made us alive together with Christ when we were dead in trespasses (by grace you have been saved)' (Ephesians 2:1-5).
1. Sacrifice is idolatry. The Bible talks about this in quite a few places.
1 Corinthians 10:14 'Therefore, my beloved, avoid idolatry.' Acts 17:16, 22-24: 'Paul was waiting for them in Athens, and when he saw that the whole city was full of idols, he was indignant... Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I see you are very religious in all things. I went about looking at your works and saw an altar inscribed with the words of an unknown god. '
Acts 17:30 says: 'The days of ignorance were not overlooked by God, but now he has commanded all men everywhere to repent.' God strongly warned against idolatry: Exodus 20:4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth below, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God are jealous. I am God, and I pay for the sins of those who hate me, from fathers to sons to the third and fourth generations, but showing mercy to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.'
2. Sacrifice is what Gentiles do to demons.
If we look at the activities of demons in the Bible, we can see various things as follows.
Matthew 9:32 “As they went out, they brought a demon-possessed and mute man to Jesus”; Matthew 12:22 “Then they brought those who were demon-possessed, blind and mute”; Matthew 17:15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is very afflicted with epilepsy”; Mark 5:2 “As soon as he came out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came out of the tombs”; Mark 9:25 “When Jesus saw the crowds running and gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit and said, ‘I command you, you dumb and deaf spirit’; Luke 4:40 'there are some who are ill with various diseases at sunset'; Acts 5:16 'A great number of people from the towns of Jerusalem have gathered to afflict the sick and unclean spirits'; Acts 16:16 “While we were going to the place of prayer, we met a female servant possessed by a divination demon.”
There are definitely demons, but it was the Lord and his disciples who were able to identify them. The scribes and Pharisees could neither detect nor cast out demons. The church today, like the scribes and Pharisees, should see if this is not happening. Because God certainly gave His people the ability to do these things: Acts 19:11 “God caused the hands of Paul to do strange miracles.”
3. Sacrifice is union and fellowship with demons.
1 Corinthians 10:20 “I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.” Do not set your own experience or experience higher than the Bible.
4. The sacrifice of faith is the Lord's Supper.
Matthew 23:9 'Do not call anyone who is on earth your father, for there is one Father, and he is in heaven.' When we are in the flesh, parent and brother relationship is established, but in the spiritual world, we all have one and the same relationship. . Therefore, the sacrifice must be offered as a memorial service. 1 Corinthians 10:21-22 "You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons, and you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Then will we provoke the Lord? Are we stronger than the Lord?" It means Holy Communion. For unbelievers, the devil's cup is a sacrifice.
In Luke 16:19 and below, the story of the rich man and Lazarus does not come down to say that Lazarus, who was saved and is in heaven, offered a sacrifice. The same is true of the rich in Hades. We only mourn. We should only fellowship with Jesus Christ and serve only Jesus Christ. In that sense, the greatest filial piety is to believe in Jesus and be saved and go to heaven while your parents are alive. *