Just Follow Jesus

“In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,

    but you have given me an open ear.

Burnt offering and sin offering

    you have not required.

Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come;

    in the scroll of the book it is written of me:

I delight to do your will, O my God;

    your law is within my heart.’” (Psalms 40:6-8 ESV)

“Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,

‘Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,

    but a body have you prepared for me;

in burnt offerings and sin offerings

    you have taken no pleasure.

Then I said, “Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,

    as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.”’” (Hebrews 10:5-7 ESV)

Under the Old Covenant, the Jews were required to make sacrifices and offerings of different kinds. They were required to obey all the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification, and dietary laws and restrictions, including the requirement of the circumcision of all males. But under the New Covenant Jesus Christ became our sacrifice for sin, and none of us has to obey any of those Old Covenant liturgical and ceremonial laws and customs. For Jesus Christ was the final and ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the entire world. He gave his life for us to free us from slavery to sin.

But under the New Covenant we are not lawless. For what did Jesus say about himself? He said, “Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.” So, just like Jesus came to do the will of God the Father, we, as his followers, are to also do the will of God. And Paul made that quite clear in his writings to the churches, that faith in Jesus Christ requires obedience to God and to his teachings under the New Covenant. Genuine faith in Jesus Christ results in us dying with Christ to sin and us now living to God and to his righteousness, in the power of God.

God still feels the same way about sin as he did under the Old Covenant. We still have to obey God. We will have to do his will. And we are not fully free from all sacrifices, for we are to give our lives to God as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to him, which is our acceptable worship of him (true worship of God). And no longer are we to be conformed to the ways and the patterns of this sinful world. But we are to be transformed in heart and mind of the Spirit of God away from sinful practices to walks of obedience to our Lord and to his New Covenant commands. We are to live holy lives!

For Jesus Christ died on that cross to free us from our slavery to sin and so that we will now follow him in obedience to his commands. He died so that we will die to sin and live to his righteousness. He shed his blood for us on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our lives of slavery to sin so that we will now serve God and honor him with our lives and with our bodies. For by faith in him we are crucified with him in death to sin and raised with him to walk in newness of life in him no longer as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness – all in the power of God.

For, if we live to please the flesh, from the flesh we will reap destruction (death). But if we live to please God, we will reap eternal life. For Jesus did not die that horrible death on that cross so that we would go on living in sin. He died to free us from our bondage to sin so that we will now live holy lives, pleasing to him, no longer conformed to the ways of this sinful world, but by the grace of God learning to say “No” to sin and “Yes” to God daily in living self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for his return. For that is where true freedom is found in death to sin and obeying our Lord.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2]

Just Follow Jesus

Video Talk

https://vimeo.com/657170005 

December 15, 2021