The Fat of Christians

The Fat of Christians

Heb 4:12-13 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

Deut 32:11-15 As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: 12 So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him. 13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock; 14 Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape. 15 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

Jeshurun means “the righteous ones.” It was a general term for the people of God. It is used five times in scripture and always refers to those who are right with God.

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Today most Christians do not study the Old Testament because they do not realize that the Old Testament stories are there to teach us important principles. We are no longer under the law of Moses but the law was to be physical examples of spiritual principles today. We can only understand the New Testament when we view I through the eyes of the Old Testament. Grace only makes sense when we realize the lessons of the Law. Those who would think that we cannot learn from the Old Testament scriptures need to remember that Jesus extensively quoted the Old Testament scriptures in His teaching. When He came to earth, He came to teach those who had a basic understanding of the law of Moses. When He appeared to the two disciples walking down the road to Emmaeus, the scriptures say that he “opened” the law and prophets to them. Suddenly they realized for the first time that the point of all of those scriptures was to reveal Jesus Christ! That is why the apostles, studied, quoted, and preached from the Old Testament and why we need to do so today. Jesus said in Hebrews 10:7: “in the volume of the book it is written of me,.” The bottom line is that you will never grow in God and fully understand the Christian lifestyle under Grace unless you begin to study the Old Testament stories and laws and learn the lessons that they can teach us today!

One easy example of taking a principle of law and applying it to us today is that God had certain requirements for the men of Israel under the law. There were certain days appointed where they were to come together and meet with God, and it was a principle that they could not come empty. They had to always bring something with them. When you take a scriptural principle under the Law, realize that you can always apply it to Calvary because all of the law was fulfilled by Jesus Christ there when He died, and then you can take the spiritual interpretation and apply it to our lives today. For instance, this principle explains why God had to be born of a woman and actually become a human being in order to die upon the altar of Calvary at the appointed time. Because God had decreed that no one would approach the altar without something to give! The reason that God became flesh was so that He would have His precious blood to give! God was bound to His own rules and was not about to show up empty handed. If God would just have appeared in the external form of man and just seemed to die upon the cross, it would not have not done you and I one bit of good, because He would have approached the altar without actually bringing something! And He did not bring money or an animal, but offered the most precious thing that one can give: their very life!

To apply this to our lives today, it is still a principle that we are to meet God together. It is also still very true that we are not come empty handed but we should always bring something with us when we come together to worship God! That is why I come and praise and worship God because I realize that I am bringing a “sacrifice of praise” to God. The praise and worship part of the service is very important because we are not to come to God empty handed! That is why we pray to God and take requests because we are offering to God a sacrifice of prayer! That is why we take up an offering because that is also a chance to give something to God! We cannot come together with God’s people and not offer God something! But more than praise, and more than prayer, and more than money, we need to follow Jesus’ example and offer up our lives as a living sacrifice! Some people today think that church attendance is not really necessary, but you can offer praise written down from a distance. You can offer prayer from a distance. You can even send in your money from a distance, but nothing will ever take the place of bringing yourself as a living sacrifice before the living God and offering your time and everything that you have to Him! The sacrifices of praise, prayer, and money are important but God wants you as well! It is the most precious thing that you have to give! And you can come and physically be in a service but not really give of yourself. You can even come and go through the motions of giving praise, prayer, and money and not really allow God to consume your total being. You can allow your mind to not really be in the service or not really be open to the things of God! But I’ve made up in my mind that when I come to church, I am going to be ready and expecting for God to move! I am going to present all of myself as a living sacrifice to Him! My prayer and my praise will be more than just lip service. My monetary giving will be more than just habit. My presence will be more than just the routine of going to church, but I will put my whole self in! I will not show up before the Lord and not offer Him anything! I will offer Him all that I have!

And the good thing about offering ourselves as a sacrifice is that it will bring life not death! God is not interested in someone killing themselves physically! Now when a sacrifice is brought to Him, He will cause it to bring forth life! Jesus Christ was the only sacrificial lamb who ever rose again! He changed the rules! Can I tell you that if you are experiencing unhappiness or spiritual death in an area of your life, you can lay it on the altar and give it completely to God and He will cause that area of your life to resurrect into a new joy that you have never had! We should not be reluctant to trust God with any areas of our life, because now placing it upon the altar brings life and a resurrection! Jesus said that those who would seek to save their lives would lose them but those who would give up their lives would find them! It is only by dying out to my sinful ways and desires that I really begin to live! Hallelujah! Jesus forever changed the purpose of the altar when He went to Calvary!

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So you can see how something as basic as the sacrifices that God required from man can teach us important principles not only about Jesus Christ but about how to live for God. I took the time this week to go through the actual butchering process of the animal. In many cases the scripture was very specific upon how the animal was placed upon the altar and usually the animal was to be “flayed” or butchered perfectly down the middle so that their innards were exposed. God was especially interested in the fat. God always mentioned that the fat was to go to Him and was not to be eaten! There are hundreds of mentions of the “fat” in scripture but let me read to you the directions of two sacrifices after that the animal had been “flayed” so that it’s innards were exposed. Both are found in Leviticus although fat is mentioned by God many times throughout the Old Testament scriptures:

Lev 3:3-5 And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, 4 And the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. 5 And Aaron's sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is upon the wood that is on the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.

Notice how that God was very specific about the pieces of fat of the sacrifice. Here is a further description later on in the same chapter:

Lev 3:14-17 And he shall offer thereof his offering, even an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, 15 And the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. 16 And the priest shall burn them upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet savour: all the fat is the LORD's. 17 It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood.

Verse 16 says “all the fat is the Lord’s” and that this would be a “perpetual” or “never ending” law! That means that even today under Grace, there is something that we can learn about God’s obsession with fat! And whether you realized it before now or not, giving God the fat is very important to pleasing God with your sacrifice. There are many scriptures that prove this but I will only mention one, the first time that fat is ever mentioned in the scriptures, the story found in Genesis of Cain and Abel. We all know that God had required the two brothers to give a sacrifice. God was pleased with Abel’s and not with Cain’s. One of the reasons for this was that Abel’s was with blood, but did you ever notice it was also because Abel offered God the fat!?

Gen 4:3-5 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. 4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: 5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

It is obvious from these and many other scriptures that for some reason, the fat of the sacrifice was important to God! That was because the fat represented the excess of the animal! It represented the things beyond the needed! And God said that He wanted the excess. In fact the sacrifice would not be pleasing unless the fat was also given! After the animal had been butchered in such a way that the innards were exposed then they would place the animal upon the altar with their arms stretched out upon either side and offered unto God in that “flayed” position! The fat would be removed from the carcass and the sacrifice offered unto God! The combination of the fat being consumed and the blood running down the altar for some reason was what pleased God and both were necessary!

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Let’s take what we have learned and apply it to Calvary. Jesus Christ was first beaten severely across the back and shoulders until His innards were exposed. In those days, they would tie a person’s hands to a post and beat them with a whip called a “cat o’ nine tails” which had pieces of metal and hooks of bone designed to tear open the flesh. Most men were killed by the beating, but not Jesus Christ because the opening of His insides was just the first part. He was then taken to the altar of Calvary where He was tied to the Cross in a flayed position with His arms stretched out to either side! Notice this scripture about the sacrifice of Calvary:

Col 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

There was more than just the sacrificial lamb and His blood being offered that day, but there was also some “extra things” being nailed to that cross. Jesus Christ had some excess that He was carrying to Calvary with Him, some “fat” if you will and that was our sins! He had no sin and so did not deserve to die, but He took on Him the weight of our sins and nailed them to the cross as well! Your sins and mine were the “fat” of the sacrifice of Calvary and the combination of the blood of the spotless lamb and the consuming of the fat by God was pleasing to Him and forever paid the price for our sins! That is why we can be saved today, because Jesus Christ became the ultimate sacrifice for us! Hallelujah!

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In our text, the writer of Hebrews was referring to this process of flaying the sacrifice when he wrote:

You see we are to be a living sacrifice to God today! We are to come and offer everything to Him. But it takes the Word of God to complete the sacrifice! The Word of God is like a two-edged sword that is used to flay open the sacrificial animal. It is able to cut in the Spirit down through our inner most beings and separate the good from the bad! It can discern the thoughts and the INTENTS of the heart! But the sword does no good unless someone is willing to pick it up and use it! Just having a Bible in your home will not change your life because if that was so, then most of the world would not have any problems! But it takes someone to pick it up and thrust it deep within our soul! That is why preaching is so important. You have come and hopefully willingly presented yourself as a living sacrifice, and now your pastor has picked up the sword and has thrust it into your very spiritual being and it is working even now as I speak. But remember that every animal sacrificed under law was an unwilling animal and God no longer desires an unwilling sacrifice! His Word will work in your life and separate what is your mental will from the will of the spirit, but only if you will allow it to work! God is no longer interested in unwilling sacrifices but is looking for someone to present themselves willingly as a living sacrifice to God!

Rom 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

We need to yield to the Word of God in every area of our lives! We need to give Him everything! When we stop yielding to the sword of the Word of God, we stop being the living sacrifice that we are to be! That is why we can never stop learning about the Word! We can never hear enough preaching or go to church too much! We can never apply too much of the Word of God to our life, because it is the sword that reveals our innermost being to God! Notice that the verse went on to say that:

13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

God sees the inner most parts of every creature on earth! The Word of God is not for God to know what is inside our motives and secret chambers of our heart, but for it to be revealed to us! The Word of God flays us open in the spirit so that we can see ourselves accurately as we really are! You will never really see yourselves for who you really are unless you look at yourself in the light of the Word of God!

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Now that you understand the principles that we can learn about our own life in studying the sacrifices, I want to remind you of how much a big deal that the fat was to God! Do not forget the reason why the sacrifice was opened up in such a manner! It was to remove the fat and offer it unto the Lord! The purpose for the flaying was so that the fat could be easily removed! The excess was for the Lord! If they would have offered the blood of the animal but not removed the fat, God would not have been pleased because only the combination of the blood and the fat being offered unto God would make things right with God!

In Hebrews chapter 11, the writer listed a bunch of heroes of faith whose lives had been great sacrifices to God. In chapter 12 he makes this startling statement:

Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

I’m preaching to some people tonight that you have had the blood of Jesus applied to your life! You have repented of your sins and been baptized in Jesus’ name and received this precious Holy Ghost, but yet there are still some things that are for some reason keeping you from being as happy and victorious as you should be! You are not committing any major sin to God but for some reason you struggle to mature spiritually and to grow beyond a certain place in God and stay off of an emotional roller coaster. The problem is that you are carrying some extra “weights” which are hindering your walk with God! Weights are things that may or may not be sins but that you allow to come between you and God. They are things that keep you from the house of God. Things that are more priority than your walk with God: those are weights. It is excess. It is the fat of your relationship with God and the Word of God has revealed to you what they are but you are trying to hold on to the fat of your sacrifice! There are some extra things in your life that God has revealed through the Word of God that He wants to remove from your life and yet you have fought Him and in doing so have kept the “fat” out of your sacrifice! “Oh God, anything but that!” You’ve just identified the excess in your life! You’ve just identified the “fat.”

Let me ask you a question. What in your life is hindering you from really being sold out to God like you should be? If you can answer, then you have identified your weight; your fat! If it seems that you seemingly cannot stay faithful to God like you should, you are not removing the fat from your life! If you cannot run this race of living for God with joy and power, then you are being sidetracked by weights! But God is saying tonight: “I’m just as interested in removing the weights as I am the sins!” The Word of God is revealing our innermost beings to ourselves and the purpose is to remove the fat! What is it that really keeps you from praying like you should? Is it something in the past? What keeps you from really having the joy of the Lord and approaching life with faith and power?! Is it bitterness about a situation or a brother or sister? What situation have you allowed to grow until it has devoured your relationship with God? It may not be a sin, but if it hinders your walk with God, it is a weight! God wants the fat! It is not His will that we should have to struggle through this life. For your living sacrifice to be acceptable, it takes more than just blood, it takes removing the fat and allowing it to be consumed by God!

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In our other text, we read the last words spoken by Moses to Israel before they went into the promised land. He put the future warnings and prophecies in the form of a song.

In the song, Moses prophesied how that God was going to bless the people of Israel and was going to give them a promised land full of every good thing that they could imagine. But he also prophesied that one day, Israel would become fat, with the excess and because of the fatness, would forsake the very God that had blessed them and saved them in the first place. The term “Jeshurun” literally means “the righteous ones.” God was not warning the sinners, but the redeemed, the chosen people who were in a close relationship with Him and had the power of the blood! As you begin to live for God and obey His Word, God will begin to bless you! You will be blessed financially, spiritually, emotionally, and every other way! God takes care of those who sell out to Him! But with all of the blessings of God, there is a danger that you will become “fat” with them to the point that you will do what Israel did: “they forsook the God that made them and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation!” You can get so used to the blessings of God that you take them for granted! You can get so used to feeling the presence of God that it becomes common place! Listen to me, oh righteous ones, enjoy the blessings of God but never forget the God that gave them to you! Enjoy the peace in your life of knowing that you are right with God but do not grow lax in your commitment to the God who gave His blood for you to be righteous! Enjoy the job that God has given to you but do not ever let it become priority over the things of God! Enjoy the increase and the blessings, but do not allow them to become priority where the things of God are not your driving force! We are to be living sacrifices but God wants the fat of Christians! “Jeshurun, don’t wax fat and lose out with God!”

We become fat spiritually by being fed spiritually and never “exercising your blessings.” By hearing the Word of God and never acting upon it! By consuming and taking and enjoying the great spiritual feasts that God provides but by never allowing it to stir us to action in reaching a lost and dying world! When you take more in than you use up, you become spiritually fat!

Medical study has revealed the effects of having too much fat on your body in the natural. Where there is a law in the natural there is something to be learned in the Spirit! Here are six results of keeping fat in the natural:

1. Lack of energy

2. Depression/Mood swings/Low self-esteem

3. Lack of longevity

4. It affects the cleansing power of your blood

5. Slows the metabolism down so that you are unable to convert as much food to energy

6. Hinders your ability to run a race or to fight

These compare almost exactly to the spiritual symptoms that Christians show when they are trying to live for God with excess spiritual weights! The first sign is that they are not as interested in participating in church activities any more. The second is that they become depressed and lose faith that God can use them to do something great! The third is that they do not make it very long living faithfully for God. The fourth is that they become hardened to the power and the need for repentance and to forgive others. The fifth is that they no longer can grasp and apply as much of the “Bread of Life” as they used to. The last is that they lose their ability to run this Christian race well, and to fight against the traps and snares of Satan! I’m preaching to someone today, but my message is nothing new:

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I close with this. The book of I Samuel tells the story of King Saul anointed as a young man to be king of Israel. God loved Saul enough to put a man of God in his life named Samuel. One day Saul came to Samuel to find out if it was God’s will for him to attack the Amalekites. God spoke through Samuel and said “I will give you great victory, but you must kill every living thing.” Saul was not to spare any person or any living creature that belonged to the Amalekites. Saul agreed and attacked and sure enough, God gave him complete victory. The problem was that Saul got greedy and prideful and so saved the king of the Amalekites alive as a prisoner of war and saved the sheep and oxen and the cattle for himself. God was so furious at Saul that He sent Samuel to inquire about the battle and Samuel confronted him asking him “why did you not obey the word of God completely?”

1 Sam 15:20-23 And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal. 22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

Saul thought by offering the fat of some of the rams, he could get by without being completely sold out to God’s will! But God, speaking through the prophet Samuel, made it clear that even back in the days of the Old Testament, the sacrifice of the fat of rams was no substitute for the living sacrifice of a person completely surrendered and obedient to God!

Your praise, prayer, financial giving, and even your church attendance are very important, but don’t ever get the mistaken impression that they take the place of the living sacrifice of you being completely obedient to God’s Word! God does want the excess in everything of your life, but He also wants all of you! Every part! Every secret place and hurt! Keeping spiritual fat hurts more than just a physical lifespan, but affects you for eternity! The only pleasing sacrifice to God is for the fat to be completely consumed upon the altar! We must lay aside every weight!