With Such Sacrifices God Is Well Pleased."
Hebrews 13:15-16
May God the Holy Spirit cause us to hear and heed the admonition here given and give us grace to offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
By Him
By him Everything begins with Christ. We cannot worship God without Christ. We cannot come to God without Christ. We cannot be saved without Christ. In all our approaches to God, we must have Christ. When Paul says, by him, he means by faith in him, through his mediation, by the merit of his blood, and upon the ground of his righteousness.
My first word is to you who have not yet come to God by him. I bid you now, right where you are, to come to God by him (Heb. 7:25). The Lord Jesus himself calls you to come to him (Matt. 11:28-30). This is the day for you to come to Christ (1 Cor. 6:1-2). The Lord God, in his Word, promises salvation and eternal life to all who come to him by faith in Christ (John 3:16-18, 36; 1 John 1:9; 5:10-14).
Let us who have come to Christ ever come to him. Let us ever have our hearts and minds fixed upon Christ, consciously coming to God by him (1 Pet. 2:4). At the very threshold of all worship and of all sacrifice to God, we begin with Christ. We cannot go a step without Christ. Without a Mediator we can make no approach to God. Apart from Christ there is no acceptable prayer, no pleasing sacrifice of any kind. By him therefore we cannot move our lips acceptably without him who suffered without the gate. The great High Priest of our profession meets us at the temple door, and we place all our sacrifices into his hands, that he may present them to our God for us. That is just the way we want it. If we could do anything without him, we would be afraid to do it. We are safe only when Christ is with us. We are accepted in the beloved, only in the beloved. And our sacrifices are acceptable to God only because of his great sacrifice. Yet, because of his great sacrifice, our sacrifices are acceptable to God by him (1 Pet. 2:5).
Behold our great Melchizedek meets us! Let us give all to him and receive his blessing, which will repay us a thousand-fold. Let us never venture upon a sacrifice apart from him, lest it be the sacrifice of Cain, or the sacrifice of fools. Christ is that altar which sanctifies both gift and giver. By him therefore let us offer our sacrifices unto God.
Therefore
By him therefore The word therefore, as you know, points us back to the context. First, "We have an Altar" (13:10). Christ is the Altar upon which we offer sacrifice to our God. Second, Christ has sanctified us "with his own blood" (13:12). Therefore we are worthy to come to God. Third, we must go forth unto Christ "without the camp." We must go forth unto him, bearing his reproach, serving the interests of his kingdom, his glory, and his people.
The Sacrifice of praise to God
"By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God. We have no carnal, material altar; and we offer no carnal, material sacrifices. The sacrifices God requires are sacrifices of the heart (Ps. 51:15-17, 19). The first sacrifice we present to God is Christ, our sin-atoning Substitute. The second sacrifice is ourselves (2 Cor. 8:5; Rom. 12:1-2). As Christ gave himself for us, we now give ourselves back again to him.
Here, we are called to offer the sacrifice of praise to God, the God of all grace (Ps. 100:1-5). The sacrifice of praise involves the adoration of his person, ascribing to him all the honor, and glory, and majesty that belongs to him as God alone. Adoration, praise, implies a delight in him. This praise, adoration, and delight in God imply a confident trust in him as God our Father. We believe that he is; and we believe that he is the Rewarder of them that diligently seek him. We trust him, delight in him, and find satisfaction with him.
When we understand who God is and delight in him, we understand that he always does right and always does us good. As we trust him and delight in him, giving praise to him, we praise him for all his works, both in providence and in grace (Ps. 92:1-15). This praise, adoration, delight, and confident trust of God our Father arises from a heart of true, intense love for him as God (1 John 4:19; 116:5, 8, 12-13, 16-18).
Continually
"By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. O for grace to do so! Worship is not something we are to do at specific, appointed times only. It ought to be the habit, the dress, the adornment of our lives. Let us worship our God continually In Prosperity and in Adversity In wealth and in poverty In sickness and in health In good times and in bad times. Our circumstances do not reflect any change in our God. He is good, always good, only good, and righteous altogether.
The Fruit of Our Lips
"By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips. There is a reference here to Hosea 14:2. "Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips." Let us praise our God and Savior continually (1 Chron. 16:9; Ps. 105:2; Rom. 11:33-36; Eph. 1:3).
Giving Thanks To His Name
"By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. Thanksgiving is the essence of worship and praise. Let us engage in it continually, privately and publicly, continually give thanks to God for all that he is, his darling Son our Savior, his blessed Spirit our Comforter, his purpose, his grace, his providence, and his presence.
Do Good
"But to do good and to communicate forget not." Here Paul puts his admonition into shoe leather. He is telling us that gratitude and thanks giving, praise and worship make people gracious, kind, and generous. When he speaks of us doing good, notice that he is not talking about what men look at, approve of, and applaud as good, but doing good to one another. That is exactly how our Lord describes good works in Matthew 25:31-46. To do good is to love one another, help one another, and communicate with (provide for) one another.
God Is Well Pleased
For with such sacrifices God is well pleased." Our sacrifices of praise, thanks giving, and love are not meritorious before God. What we give is but what God has given us, and cannot be profitable to him. Yet doing good in this way, when it is done in faith, springs from love, and is directed to the glory of God, and is well pleasing to him (Hos. 6:6). God is pleased with our feeble efforts at pleasing him when, as our sacrifice of praise, we do good to one another because we are in his Son, in whom he delights, and our sacrifices are bathed in his blood and robed in his righteousness (1 Pet. 2:5).
Don Fortner