Hebrews 13:5 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His Name.
A sacrifice of praise is only a sacrifice when it costs you to praise God. If your praises of God are generated by the blessings and prosperity of your life, then it is not a sacrifice because it cost nothing.
However, if you can say as Job said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” Job 1:21; then you are beginning to offer the sacrifice of praise – a sacrifice that defies the natural circumstance, for Job had no reason to praise God. In fact, if you were to judge Job by what people love to judge with – appearances – you would have surely said Job must have been in some deep sin; for in one day Job lost his children, his flocks and his houses; as his friends concluded - the great preachers Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuite and Zophar the Namathite.
Yet we know it is not Job’s sin, but God’s challenge to the devil that put Job in this predicament. Indeed, Jesus was hung on a tree – crucified – and if you were to judge by appearance; you would have said Jesus must have been a great sinner receiving His due from God. So, the sacrifice of praise is not the praise that comes out in prosperity, but it is the praise of God that is offered to God in the midst of disasters and impending doom. It is like the praises of Jehoshaphat and his army as they were marching out to battle. In fact – if you read 2 Chronicles 20:18-19 it says: Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the Lord. Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the Lord, the God of Israel, with very loud voice. And in 2 Chronicles 20:21 After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendour of His holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: “Give thanks to the Lord, for His love endures forever.”
So what is the fruit of the sacrifice of praise? It is the praise of God for His holiness in Jesus – for the splendour of God’s holiness now resides and is displayed through Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. Which is what God declared when He said, “This is My Son, Whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him.” Matthew 17:5
If you want to praise God in the splendour of His holiness, then holiness or separation unto God in our days is to devote ourselves to listen to Jesus. And like Job and Jehoshaphat, your devotion to the worship of God in His holiness, as they did respectively for their time and age; you might find yourself being threatened by enemies from without or find yourself being pushed into the arena by God as His champion, like Job against his enemies.
Who are God’s enemies now? - Anyone who denies Jesus Christ, His Son – who denies Him in His Sonship, Lordship and the truth of His word, who waters down His perfect sacrifice and tries to add to His finished work of salvation upon the cross.
Who are the rebellious now, in God’s eyes? - Anyone who will not listen to Jesus, after they have been given the command to listen to Him. If God the Father had not said to Peter, John and James, “Listen to Him.”; we would not be guilty of disobedience if we continued to listen to Moses and watered down what Jesus said, with what Moses said.
If God had not said, “Listen to Him [Jesus].”; I would have no problem with James the Younger’s recommendations about abstaining from blood, abstaining from strangled meat, and abstaining from food sacrificed to idols. If you get 3 out of 4 wrong, then I don’t think I should continue to listen – no matter what [who] you claim to be. Likewise, if you say you work for God in the Church of Jesus Christ, and yet you do not know the command of God the Father to the Church of Jesus Christ; then I would put your words with the recommendations of James in Acts 15.
It has been said that the Church should be run according to the letters of the Apostles – the Epistles – and presumably this includes the letter of Acts 15. I would agree if Jesus himself did not dictate seven letters to the Churches in the Book of the Revelation; and there commanded the Church to listen to the Holy Spirit, and not to man.
The man of God from Judah in 1 Kings 13:1-30 is the classic warning to all who forsake the Word of God for the word of a man reputed to be a man of God. The man of God himself had testified that the word of the Lord for him was: “You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.” I Kings 13:9. He refused King Jeroboam’s invitation to lunch, which really was no problem, because Jeroboam’s arm withered as he stretched it out. However, when the lying old prophet from Bethel offered him lunch, and offered him his credentials – “I too am a prophet, as you are.” I Kings 13:18; he accepted. Worse still, he accepted a lower word than the one he received. The man of God received his command from the Lord, but the old prophet said: “And an angel said to me by the word of the Lord.” v 18. He traded a personal word from God for a second message of an angel through a man – and went to lunch. And as you read the whole sad affair – the man of God was killed by a lion on the way. Who is the lion? - the Devil? – Who is like a lion? - The Lord Who is the Lion of Judah!
And look at what the lying old prophet of Bethel said about the man of God; “It is the man of God who defied the word of the Lord. The Lord has given him over to the lion, which has mauled him and killed him as the word of the Lord had warned him.” 1 Kings 13:26 The hypocritical so and so! It was his lying tongue that induced the man of God to betray the command of God in the first place.
So, the word of the Lord to the church of Jesus Christ is: “Listen to Him [Jesus].”, and the word of the Lord to His churches is: “Listen to the Holy Spirit.”, Who according to the Lord Himself, “will not speak on His own,… and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” John 16:13; 14:26
And when you stick to the word of the Lord for you; you will be persecuted and even killed by man. But if you forsake the word of the Lord, you will still be killed anyway. So what is the difference?
The difference is that when you are persecuted for the sake of the word of the Lord, you will be able to offer up the sacrifice of praise as the fruit of your lips – and unto your lips, you will receive the fruit of praise that comes from the Tree of Life Himself.
The fruit of praise that comes from your lips, that which you can offer when things go wrong, is what you die for. That’s right – die for – not live for; for no sane person would want to live for a life of sacrifice that they may praise God. At the moment of the sacrifice of praise you will find, like Job, that you would wish you were never born. Job 3:3 May the day of my birth perish and the night it was said, ‘A boy is born!’
As such, the sacrifice of praise makes you want to die. It is a sacrifice that does not take you onto a promise of life - Jehoshaphat marching out to fight in a battle is a journey towards death and destruction – not a journey towards peace and prosperity – and not sacrifices of praise.
However, in the midst of that persecution, if you are able to still offer up the fruit of praise unto God, as the Lord has said; “Give and it will be given unto you.” Luke 6:38. As you give, so it will be given unto you – the fruit of praise which comes from the lips of God – the Tree of Life.
Paul said: 1 Thessalonians 2:6 We are not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else. Although Paul stops there in his humility, I can tell you, the Apostle who understood the sacrifice of praise when he penned Hebrews anonymously – was looking for praises from God – the fruit of praise that comes from the Tree of Life.
In case you have missed the point when Jesus taught it – God will not praise you for doing what you ought to do. Luke 17:7 “Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink.’? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”
So, do you think God is going to reward you for listening to Jesus? Do you think God is going to reward you for following Jesus and putting His words to practice?
Do you think Jesus is going to reward the Church for listening to the Holy Spirit? Surely not – for we are only doing what we were told to do. But what will the Father do to those who refuse to listen to Jesus? What will Jesus do to those who refuse to follow Him and practice His word? What will Jesus do to Churches who will not listen to the Holy Spirit? - And I am talking about the servants of God – not those who do not serve God. Look to the man of God from Judah; and there is your warning.
But what if you persevere at your work; even if it costs you everything, even your life? What if you persevere in doing what you were told; even if it meant saying no to the King and the old prophet of Bethel; but stick to the word of the Lord to you? That man of God from Judah never found out. But I will tell you what will happen – Firstly – Jesus says you are blessed. Matthew 5:11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in Heaven…”
What is this reward in Heaven that Jesus is talking about? Revelations 21:2 I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming out of Heaven from God… and Jesus said, Revelations 22:14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city…”.
But before all that in Revelations 20:4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. When you steadfastly stick to the word of the Lord to you against loss of life, family, house, land, respectability through lies and persecution – you will receive the reward – not of a servant, for a servant who does what they are told receives little. They may share in the Master’s happiness, but they remain servants. [Matthew 25:21]
But when you have gone the extra mile; and in the midst of all that trial, still praised God; then by the Lord’s own word, you will receive what you gave. If you can praise God when things are hard; then you will receive the praises of God from the lips of God – the Fruit of Praise that comes from the lips that also confess the Name of Jesus – for the first lips to confess the Name of Jesus was the Father when He said, “You are My Son, Whom I love; with You I am well pleased.” Mark 1:11, Luke 3:22
That is why Paul was not looking for praises from men, but from God – and there is no higher praise from God than to be given a throne and the authority to judge, as He is seated on the throne to judge. Revelations 20:4. Only those who are worthy of the First Resurrection receive the praise of God from God; for they are those who have sacrificed to Him the sacrifice of praise.
The days of distress that lie ahead are fertile ground for all of us to sacrifice the fruit of praise unto God. The more you adhere to the word of the Lord to you, the more the world and the church will hate you – for your adherence to the Lord’s word, allows the Lord to do what He wants to do. Your agreement with God here on earth, allows God to do what He wants from Heaven.
In Revelations 15:2 And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing over the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by God and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb. “Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are Your ways, King of the ages. Who will not fear You, O Lord, and bring glory to Your name? For You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.”
And following that came the seven bowls of God’s wrath –
1. of ugly and painful sores on the people who worshipped the beast and his mark. Revelations 16:2
2. the sea turned into blood .. and every living thing in the sea died. Rev 16:3
3. the rivers and springs of water turned to blood. Rev 16:4
4. the sun …scorched the people with fire…. And they cursed the name of God Who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify Him. Rev 16:8,9
5. the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness. Man gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done. Rev 16:10,11
6. the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East [to go to Jerusalem and war breaks out] Rev 16:12,14
7. The great city [Jerusalem] split into three parts and the cities of the nations collapsed….huge hailstones of about a 100 pounds each fell upon men. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible. Rev 16:19,21
We who seek to meet up with Jesus above Jerusalem – we who seek to be left alive to await the call – will have to live through these seven bowls of wrath –
~ like Elijah had to live through the famine he called down on Israel
~ like Ezekial had to live through the exile of Israel
~ like Jeremiah had to live through the devastation of Jerusalem
And whilst the whole world curses God for His righteous and just judgments; we will have to praise Him; and to be able to do that, we must receive the practice now. That is why rejoice when people say all sorts of false things about you because you are listening to Jesus, to follow Him and practice His words. Rejoice when the Church kicks you out for telling her to listen to the Holy Spirit, whilst He is still on Earth – for it is practice for the real thing. If you would offer up to God the fruit of praise now, then you will receive from God the fruit of His lips – His praises – and all the other fruits of the Tree of Life, which are real food - Food that can sustain you through the days of distress, unlike any since the creation of the world.
Stars shine at night – so when the Kingdom of the beast is thrown into darkness, we who are left, will shine like the stars in heaven. There is no work left to do – but just to shine – no work left to do because the power of God entrusted to you will make whatever you do seem not to be work!!
And the fruit of praise which is from God’s mouth that we all want to hear…"You are My son, you are My daughter – just like Jesus.”
What a day when God will present you to creation and those who are saved saying; “Behold, the sons and daughters of God – just like Jesus Christ. Listen to them.”
AMEN HOLY SPIRIT.
