Exodus 29:14
“But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin offering.”
I seriously doubt that we will ever understand the sacrifice Christ made to save us from our sins. When you look at the sacrifices God commanded the children of Israel to observe, you get a small picture of the sacrifice Christ made for mankind. The sacrifice that He made shows the great love that He has for every person.
In the verse above, God commanded Moses to offer a sin offering for Aaron and his sons as a part of setting them apart for the office of the priest. God told them to take a bullock and kill it at the door of the tabernacle. Then they were to take the blood of the bullock and spear it on the horns of the altar and pour the remaining blood at the bottom of the altar. They were then to flay the bullock and sacrifice the inwards of it, but they were to take the skin and the dung and burn them with fire without the camp. In this sacrifice is a picture of what Jesus did to salvage mankind, but I also believe it takes the same from you to be an influence on people to help bring them to Christ. Let me take this sacrifice and show you what it will take for you to be used to salvage people.
First, you must be willing to be a sacrifice. One of the most interesting things about Christ being our sacrifice is that He had to be willing to leave Heaven for you and I. If you are not willing to sacrifice yourself for others, then you will never have the influence upon them to change their lives. Jesus left everything so that He could save a world from their sins, and until you are willing to leave everything for others, then you will never have the impact on their lives to see them changed.
Second, you must love them enough to go where they are. Jesus didn’t stay in Heaven to salvage mankind, but He left a wonderful place to go to a horrible place all because He loved man so much that He wanted them to be saved from their sins. You will never greatly influence people until they see you love them more than anything else. Until you are willing to go where they are, then you will never make a change in their life. I’m not talking about living their lifestyle, but I’m talking about being among them and not being ashamed to bring them to Christ. If you only want to stay in the comforts of your church and home, then you will not reach them. You must go to where people are if you are going to salvage them.
Third, you must lay aside the robes of who you are if you are going to salvage a people. One of the most interesting things about this sacrifice is that the bullock had its skin removed. This was symbolic of Jesus laying aside His robes of Deity and taking on the robes of humanity so that we could be reached. Don’t get me wrong, Jesus Christ was still God, but He took on flesh so that He could reach us. You will never reach people and salvage them if you are not willing to change who you are to become like Christ. You can become stubborn and say that you are not going to change, but you will never reach people. You must realize that God cannot change people through you until you lay aside your robes of humanity to be clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit of God. It is when we take on His likeness that we can influence others.
I ask you, are you willing to do what it takes to salvage people? Jesus Christ was willing to do all of this to salvage you, the least you can do is follow His example to try to salvage those in your world. People are needing you. Be that person who is willing to take these steps to salvage a people for the sake of Christ.