Serve Him Without Fear

Luke 1:68-75

 

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,

    for he has visited and redeemed his people

and has raised up a horn of salvation for us

    in the house of his servant David,

as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,

that we should be saved from our enemies

    and from the hand of all who hate us;

to show the mercy promised to our fathers

    and to remember his holy covenant,

the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us

    that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,

might serve him without fear,

   in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.”

 

Jesus Christ the righteous is the promised seed of Abraham through whom all nations are being blessed. He is the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. He is God, and he is the Son of God, and he is our creator God. All things that were made were made through him.

 

Although he was God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – yet he came to earth, and he was born as a baby to a human mother, conceived of the Holy Spirit. And when he walked the face of this earth he was fully God yet fully man (human).

 

Jesus Christ came into the world to save us from our sins. Although he had done no wrong, many of the rulers in the temple of God hated him, and so they plotted his death on a cross, which was accomplished. But his death was all in God’s plan for our redemption, for in his death and resurrection he put our sin to death and he rose victorious over death, sin, and hell.

 

When I think of the enemies that Jesus saved us from in his sacrificial death for us on that cross, I think of sin, Satan, and death. By faith in Jesus Christ we died with him to sin and we were raised with him to walk in newness of life in him. Our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin but slaves of righteousness, no longer under the dominion of sin or of Satan.

 

Jesus Christ died on that cross that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. He died that we might no longer live for ourselves but for him who gave his life up for us. And he shed his blood for us on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) so we would now honor God with our bodies (with our lives).

 

Thus, his purpose in saving us from our enemies is that we might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. Amen! Therefore we are not to let sin reign any longer in our mortal bodies, to make us obey its passions. But we are to be slaves of God and of his righteousness.

 

We are to walk (in conduct, in practice) no longer according to the flesh, but now according to the Spirit. Our desires are to be for God and no longer to serve the lusts of our flesh. For, we are slaves of whomever we obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness, which then leads to sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God.

 

[Gal 3:16, 26-29; Jn 1:1-36; Php 2:5-11; Lu 1:26-38; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:19-20; 2 Co 5:15; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10]

 

Luke 1:76-79

 

“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;

    for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

to give knowledge of salvation to his people

    in the forgiveness of their sins,

because of the tender mercy of our God,

    whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high

to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,

    to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

 

This is speaking of John the Baptist whom God sent ahead of Jesus to prepare the way for him and for his ministry. John’s main message was “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And when Jesus began to preach, he preached the same thing. And when Peter began to preach, he also preached repentance (Matt 3:2; Matt 4:17; Ac 2:38; Ac 3:19-20).

 

John was the voice of one calling “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Is 40:3). John said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said” (Jn 1:23).

 

And the straight way is the way of righteousness and holiness, which is why John preached repentance for the remission of sins. And repentance is not just a change of mind, but it is a change of heart, and it is a change of conduct, of lifestyle, of behaviors, attitudes, speech, and action. Repentance is a complete turnabout. It is a spiritual U-turn. You were going in the way of sin, and now you turn to God, and you walk in the way of righteousness.

 

Before we believe in Jesus we are enemies of God. Our sin separates us from God. We all fall short of receiving God’s divine approval. Then, when by faith in Jesus we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we are reborn of the Spirit of God, and we are given new lives in Christ Jesus, our Lord, to be lived for his glory and praise, then we are at peace with God.

 

When we believe in Jesus, we are rescued from darkness (sin) and we are brought into God’s wonderful light (his righteousness, holiness, truth). The old has gone. The new has come. So, we no longer live like we did before we believed in Jesus for Jesus delivered us from our slavery to sin so that we might live as slaves of God and of his righteousness.

 

But if we continue in sin, i.e. if we keep on in sin, making sin our practice (habit, addiction), and if righteousness is not our practice, then we will die in our sins. We will not have eternal life with God. It won’t matter what we confessed with our lips or think we believed in our hearts. Many are going to hear the Lord say one day, “Depart from me you workers of iniquity. I never knew you.” So, please take this to heart.

 

[1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Matt 7:21-23; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

 

Oh Lord, You're Beautiful  

 

Keith Green

 

Oh Lord, you're beautiful,

Your face is all I seek,

For when your eyes are on this child,

Your grace abounds to me.

 

I want to take your word and shine it all around.

But first help me just to live it Lord.

And when I'm doing well, help me to never seek a crown.

For my reward is giving glory to you.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtzCD_8KbjI

Caution: This link may contain ads