◄ What Does Hebrews 13:15 Mean? ►

The Lord Jesus offered up His sinless life to His Heavenly Father as the full, final, and sufficient sacrifice for the sin of the whole world. It was by willingly giving up His own perfect life as an offering to the Father at Calvary that the purpose for which Christ was born was accomplished. He became the full and sufficient payment for the sin of the whole world - and all who believe on Him receive forgiveness of sins because He died in our place.

However, the grave could not hold the dead body of this sinless Man. Christ was a blameless Man, and it is only the soul that sins on which the sentence of death is placed. The sacrificial death of our sinless Saviour was sufficient to pay the price for the sin of the whole world, but death had no claim on Christ Himself. The Lord Jesus had fulfilled the righteous requirements of God's perfect Law in spirit and in truth, by living a sinless, blameless, holy life - walking in submission to the Holy Spirit and living in complete dependence upon God, day by day.

Christ is the substitute Man Who lived His life as man ought to live. Christ lived His life in the way that God had created man to live. But all humanity is tainted by Adam's sin and incapable of living in spirit and truth in our own strength. It is only the new, born again life of Christ within which enables us to live as God intended us to live. Only His life in us is enabled to will and to do those things that are pleasing to God and bring honour to His name.

Because of His sinless life, death could not hold Him and His own perfect life was restored to Him when He was resurrected from the dead - and that perfect, sinless resurrected life of Christ is the free gift of God's grace to all who trust on His name for salvation. When we are born again, we receive His life - we receive the perfect sinless life of Christ - we receive the new-life-of-Christ. At salvation we were made a new creation in Him, with a new life and a new nature. And although the old sin nature still resides in our fallen bodies of flesh and blood (until our physical death), we have the power of Christ's sinless life within to enable us to live in newness of life in Christ, and to offer up our own lives as a living sacrifice to the Lord.

The sacrifice that God required of those that are purchased by the blood of Christ is that their lives become a living sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to the Saviour Who bought us with His own precious blood. It is the fruit of our lips and the yielding of our inner being which flows out to Him from a broken heart that has been washed clean by the blood of the Lamb, which brings honour to His name.

Christ died once for all on the Cross - therefore let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, which streams forth from a grateful heart that has been washed clean by the redeeming blood of Christ and is shown forth through the fruit of our lips when we give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and grace, and sing praises to the God of our salvation.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Christ’s sacrifice of Himself on the Cross for my sake. I pray that I may show forth my grateful love and praise to You through an ongoing sacrifice of praise. May the fruit of my lips and the thoughts of my heart be honouring to You. In Jesus' name, AMEN.