Psalms 4:5 “Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.”
We know that Jesus Christ alone in the righteousness of the saints. Nothing can be added or diminished from His perfect sacrifice, and imputed righteousness. However, once a person comes to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and is born of The Spirit, a radical change begins to take place from within. We are freed from the sacrifices of dead works that seek to earn favor and salvation from God. Now, in Christ Jesus, we offer unto The Lord sacrifices of righteousness from hearts that have been filled with His grace, love and beauty.
How vain are our religious rituals apart from repentant, regenerated hearts? Listen to God pleading with people who were religious on the outside, but unconverted on the inside. Isaiah 1:11 “To what purpose [is] the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. 12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? 13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; [it is] iniquity, even the solemn meeting. 14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear [them]. 15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. 16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; 17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. 18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
It is so easy for Christians to get trapped in a unbiblical “good works” trip. One rooted in guilt, and perhaps even pride. Through faith in the blood of Jesus, we receive the only righteousness that God accepts. Period! The good works that are done today are not sacrifices to appease God for righteousness, but sacrifices of righteousness, motivated by love, and for the glory of God.
