He came down. He spanned the
great gulf. The great gulf between heaven
and earth. Turn in your Bibles, if you would,
to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. We've looked
at this recently in our Bible study. But some folks are not
able to join us in our Bible study. And I tend to think sometimes,
I tend to forget that. when the Lord kind of lays something
on my heart, I may skip over it if it's something we just
studied recently. But that's not really fair to those who
aren't able to be here. So, though we've looked at this
in our Bible studies, I want to talk to you this morning about
a subject we read in verse 5. But before we get to that, let's
start at verse 1. Hebrews chapter 10. beginning
at verse 1, for the law having a shadow of good things to come. Now, I want to read that again.
I want you to soak this in. This is important, folks. For
the law having a shadow of good things to come. That means it's
just a shadow. Now, have you ever fought your shadow? Have
you ever fought your shadow against the law? I would imagine most
of us probably have. It can't hurt you. It can't do
anything. It's not really there. It's just
a shadow of the reality. It's a shadow of you. Well, the
law here is being called a shadow, and it goes on to say that not
the very image of the things can never, with those sacrifices,
which they offered year by year, and it's talking about these
sacrifices that God's people brought before the Lord and the
holiest of holies, Now remember, the sacrifice, the high priest
won. One high priest. And he had to
be that high priest until he died. So we see one high priest
went into the holiest of holies. Nobody else could go in there.
Do you start to see a picture of Christ our Savior? Our high
priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. the mediator between men and
God, the one who mediates men, sinful man, and a righteous God. He goes in, sacrificing blood
on the mercy seat in the holiest of holies, going on in our text,
which they offer year by year, continually make the comers there
unto perfect. Those sacrifices never did anything. They were nothing but a shadow.
A shadow of the one to come. Verse 2, For then would they
not have ceased to be offered, if they had done anything, if
those sacrifices that those priests did, the people of God, brought
before God Almighty, if they had done anything, they would
cease to be offered, wouldn't they? Because that the worshipers
once purged should have had no more conscience of sin. If you could lay all of your
sin on one of those animals that the blood was shed with, then
you're done, right? Isn't that the way it is with
Christ? Aren't all of our sins laid upon our Savior? That's what this is talking about.
If the blood of those saints can do anything, if once was
purged should have had no more Conscience of sin, verse 3. But
in those sacrifices, there is a remembrance again made of sins
every year. Every year they had to be done.
Why? Because those people continuously
sinned. Does that not sound like us?
Does that not sound like you? Oh, I'm telling you folks, that
got John Reeves written all over it. Verse 4. For it is not possible
that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore,
now because of that, wherefore means, look at what we just read.
When he cometh, when who? When he cometh into the world,
he saith sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body
thou hast prepared me. Now I want you to mark your place
here in Hebrew. of this, but I want to talk about
this. A body hast thou prepared. You know, this is the time of
year where everybody's talking about this little baby in the
manger. Even those who don't know the truth of who that baby
is. The world's full of people who are talking about Christmas.
Oh, peace unto men. Oh, love unto men. Why was a body prepared? You see, folks, every man, woman,
and child who walks this earth is a sinner. Don't you call my
great-grandchild that. Oh, yes. That adorable child
that I call my great-granddaughter, who is so adorable, is nothing
more than a sinner. as her great-grandfather has.
She needs Christ as much as I do. My daughter, my son, my grandchildren,
they need Christ as much as I do because they cannot, they cannot
offer up a sacrifice that would be acceptable to God of their
own doing. Why was there a body prepared? The Son of God is the eternal
Son of God, that's why. He's always been there. He's
the creator as we see over in John chapter 1. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. That's in John
1. And then it says in John 14, and the Word was made flesh.
So we see here the Lord Jesus is the Word of God. The whole
Word of God is all about Him. He was manifest in the flesh,
He dwelt among us, we beheld His glory, and the glory is the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Why must there a body be prepared? Because God can't die, that's
why. The eternal Son of God could
not die. God will only accept one thing,
and that is perfect righteousness, which His Son was able to give.
But His Son needed a body to sacrifice. He needed something
as perfect as God the Father, and that's exactly what God the
Son in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ is all about. Perfection. Everything He did pleased the
Father. Is that not what the Word of God says? We recognize
this time of the year this special child who's coming to the world.
What's so special about this child? Let me share this with
you. No other child has ever received
so much recognition in all of time. Even the Muslims know about
the baby Jesus. Even the Islamic folks, even
the Buddhists people know of one who's called Jesus. No other
child in all of the world, in all of the records has ever had
as much recognition as this special child that we look at this time
of year. No other child has had such a
heavy load laid upon their shoulders. Peace on earth and goodwill towards
men. What other child in history have
we ever heard about who's received that much on their shoulders? As I said those very words, I
thought to myself, look what we've done to a man that we elected
as president. Do you know how many people have
put so much on him? And that's nothing compared to
what they've put on this child, the baby Jesus. What's so special
about it? Listen to these words from Matthew
1, verse 23. Behold, a virgin shall be with
child. That's what's special. He came
into this world to a virgin. Well, how can that be? How can
that be? It's never happened before. No
virgin has ever had a child, ever, recorded in history. This child came into the world
not of the seed of Adam. For all of the seed of Adam have
died and come into this world dead, spiritually dead in trespasses
and sin. That means all of us. That means
each and every one of us. We're no different, folks. We're
no different than anybody else that walks this earth. We all
come into this world dead in trespasses and sin. We all come
into this world hating God, shaking our fists, saying, I'll be my
God. I'll decide when I want to follow
Him. I'll make a decision to come
down and make a prayer. I'll get into the waters of baptism. That's our nature, to take credit
for what we are. The problem is we don't know
if we are until God shows us. This child came into the world
from the virgin, from the seed of the Spirit,
and shall bring forth a son. This virgin shall bring forth
a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted
is God with us. Isn't that wonderful? God became
flesh. He humbled Himself. He came down
from glory. He came down. He spanned the
great gulf between man and heaven. The gulf that was separated when
we were separated from heaven by the fall of Adam. And He walked this earth. God
in the flesh. Perfect in everything and everything
He did. Listen to these words. from 1
Timothy 3.16, and without controversy. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. In Jeremiah 23.5-6, we read these
words, Behold, the days come. Sayeth the Lord that I will raise
unto David a righteous branch. That's this One who came into
the world with no sin. He knew no sin. A righteous branch
and a King shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and
justice in the earth. In His days, Judah shall be saved
and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is His name whereby
He shall be called the Lord Our righteousness. What's so special
about this baby? Oh, I'll tell you what's special
about this baby. Judgment and justice shall be
executed by Him. Well, what judgment, John? Judgment
for His people. Judgment for their sin. Judgment
would they deserve? Judgment? The justice of God
Almighty? Sin must be punished? Shall be
laid upon Him. He shall execute judgment and
justice in the earth. That's what's special about this
child. He's going to grow up. He's going to walk this earth
in perfect righteousness, doing everything that satisfied, that
pleased the Father. He came to do His Father's will
as we will see towards the end of the message. He did it all
because He loved His people. Folks, He loves you. Some of you know, I did it again. I foolishly stepped into social
media once again. I like to put good articles on
my Facebook account. I've got family that reads these
things. And one of them didn't like that I put an article from
Caleb Hickman. I forget what church he's a young
man who just started preaching a couple years back. He's a pastor
for a church back in Tennessee, I think it is, or North Carolina,
one of those places back there. And he wrote an article. But
it talks about God's elect and how it's not my will. Whose will is it? It's the will
of God, is what he said. And that's just paraphrasing
what he said. Well, this dear loved one, a member of the family
from back east, decided that she was going to ask me this
question. Are you saying that God would
save people against their will? of Ezekiel, we are made willing
in the day of his power." That was my answer. I didn't even
say anything about it. I didn't give her any opinion. I just
gave her God's answer. She didn't like that one bit.
Her answer to me was, I'm sure thankful that I made a decision
for the Lord. She took all the glory out of
salvation and put it in her own hands. She declared unto the
world on Facebook that she was thankful about something she
had done. She does not bow to the Lord
of Righteousness as we read in Jeremiah 23, 5, and 6. Hebrews
9, verse 22 says this, without the shedding of blood is no remission. Sin must be put away payment
must be made justice, must be satisfied. The soul that sinneth,
it shall die, as it says in Ezekiel 18 verse 20. Mark your spot in
Hebrews and turn over to Isaiah 53 if you would. These are familiar
verses, but I want you to read along with me, just like I had
mentioned several times over these last couple weeks that
a body was prepared. So I wanted you to go there and
read it with me. I want you to see in God's Word.
I don't want you to think it's John Reeve's opinion, but God
Himself says a body was prepared for His Son. Who is it prepared
for? For the Lord Jesus Christ. Over here in Isaiah 53, v. 3-6 we read this, He is despised
and rejected of men, a man of sorrow, acquainted with grief. And we hid it as it were, our
faces from Him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. Surely he hath borne our grief
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him strict and
smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him and with his stripes. We are healed. All we, like sheep,
have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way, and the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all. Listen to Philippians 2, verse
8. We're talking about this body.
This body that God Almighty had prepared to come to this earth. In Philippians 2, verse 8, we
read these words, "...and being found in the fashion As a man,
He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. He became obedient. Now, wouldn't
that imply that He had to do something? He became obedient
that He was sent here for something? He was sent here for a reason.
A body was prepared that He would come to this world, take the
sins of His people upon that perfect, righteous body, that
they would be made the righteousness of God in Him. He was made sin,
and He took it to the grave. He took it. He obeyed unto death,
even the death of the cross. God hath laid the iniquity of
His chosen people on His Son. My iniquities. Your iniquities
if you belong to Him. Your iniquities if your names
were written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the world began.
Your iniquities if you are part of His elect, those for whom
He died on the cross. He did everything perfect and
that includes His death. He paid for all of our sins.
All of His people's sins, not the whole world. They got in
an argument with me. Some of the family members joined
in with this one. They got in an argument with
me about why is it that God would not give a choice to some and
others He would save. Let me tell you something, folks.
God did give us a choice. And we chose to hate Him. Our
nature drove us to do that. Do you catch the love of God
in changing you in that way? Giving you life to love Him?
That's the point. The point is, is if we were left
to our will, we would be just like the people who cried out,
crucify Him! Crucify Him! I know I would. I know that's true. His Word
says it. And I see the darkness that God
has shown me in my heart. He's laid my iniquity on His
Son, for He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin. That's the one He laid the sin
on. He had made Him to be sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God. Did you catch that? Your righteousness
is no good. Your righteousness is as filthy
rags. My righteousness isn't even worth Hold him! Throw him
away! Toss him aside! That's what it's
worth? It's like dung! And you know
what that is. If you have children and you
don't want me to... I'll leave that to the parents
to explain. The righteousness of God is the
only righteousness God Almighty will accept. And it's only found
in His Son, the Lord Jesus. It says that we would be made
the righteousness of God in Him. That's the peace on this earth. Everybody's trying to go around
right now and put on the smile to your neighbors. I like that
smile that the guy on the Big Bang Theory puts his name, the
skinny tall dude, he's, you can tell it's just as fake as can
be. There's people killing each other out there still. There's
no peace on earth. There's people that are hating
each other and fighting each other and killing each other,
and there always will be. It's a sin-filled earth. Everything
in it is dying. The peace on earth is the peace
that God gives His people knowing that our sins have been laid
on our substitute. That's the only peace I have.
I have no peace with what I do in this flesh. I have no peace
with what you do in your flesh. My only peace is Christ my Lord.
What about yours? That helps me get through this
world. That helps me come through this world knowing that the God
of all creation, the creator of everything that is, is the
one who's in control. He works all things out according
to the counsel of His will, not mine. Gene, he loves to tell me, he
says, yeah, I told Judy today, I'm sure glad you're not running
this world. That's funny, huh? She turns around, she says, I'm
sure glad you don't either. I'm sure glad I'm not. Because I'd
have a mess of things. The peace on this earth are those
people that God has chosen to save. Not for anything of them,
not for anything in them, but because of his everlasting love.
The love that He has bestowed upon them before the foundations
of creation. The love in Him that He has sent
His Son, this child, this body that was prepared to be their
substitute. Turn over to Isaiah chapter 9.
Let's look at that. Let's look at that child over
there. Isaiah chapter 9. I've got to pick it up here a
little bit. I'm getting behind. Look here at verse 6. Again,
familiar verses, but this is good to look at. Isn't it? If
you've never heard about Jesus, how are you going to believe
in Him? It says, those who call upon the Lord shall be saved.
How are you going to call on somebody you've never heard of?
If all you've ever heard of is this Jesus who wants you to be
saved, but can't save you until you let Him, if that's all you've
ever heard, Then how are you going to call on the real One
who says this? Look at verse 6. For unto us. Notice that? Does it say unto the world? Does
it say unto all mankind? No, it's unto us. Unto a people
chosen of God before the world was. Unto us a child is born.
This is that body that was prepared. This body that was prepared in
a virgin. The child is born. Now get a
load of this. Unto us a Son is given. God gave His only begotten Son
that whosoever shall believe in Him shall have everlasting
life. Go on here. It says the Son is
given and the government shall be upon His shoulders. That's
the same thing as saying He's Lord. The government of all things. He's Lord of all things. You
know, it's not good enough just to say He's Lord, because a lot
of people do. This relative of mine from back east who wants
to argue about the will of man against the will of God. They
believe that Christ loves the whole world, and that His Son
was given to the whole world. So the government shall be upon
His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful. I'll tell
you, I don't have any problem calling Him Wonderful now. knowing
who He is. I don't have any problem calling
Him wonderful for being gracious to me, a sinner deserving nothing
more than His wrath. I don't have any problem calling
Him wonderful for not leaving me to myself.
Counselor! Oh, if I need anything to counsel
me, I need the truth. And there's only one place to
find the truth, and that's Christ Jesus the Lord. Look what's next
though. This child, this body that was
prepared, this child that was born, this son that was given,
His name is called the Mighty God. That's the same thing we
read in John chapter 1. The everlasting Father. We're
talking about this child, this baby child that was in the manger.
This is God Almighty in the flesh. The body that was prepared to
come to this earth. grow to be a man and to lay his
life down for his people, to take the wrath of God upon himself
for his people. And he is the prince of our peace. He is the prince of our peace.
Unto us, unto us a child is born, a son is given. Look at verse
7 of Isaiah chapter 9. Of the increase of His government
and peace there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David and
upon His kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment
and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the
Lord, the burning desire, the will of the Lord, of hosts, will
do this. Will perform this. Who is it? Who is it that will put the government
on His shoulders? God Almighty. If you're a bona
fide sinner before a thrice holy God, I've got some good news
for you. Turn over to Isaiah 40. Look
at verses 1 and 2. Isaiah 40, verses 1 and 2. Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people. We're talking about the Prince
of Peace. The Prince of Peace to the people of God. To the
chosen, to the elect, to the loved of God. Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people. Sayeth your God, speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. That her iniquity is pardoned. for she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sins." Folks, I'm telling you,
I'm telling you, your battle is accomplished in Christ the
Lord and Christ alone. There was a battle against God's
people in the Midianites over in Judges 7, verse 16, and you
can turn there and read The Lord told them, instructed
them, take up some vessels, some broken vessels, and take up some
horns and musical instruments. Take them up and them up alone.
And when you are told, blow the horn and rattle the broken vessels. And in that day, the Lord was
going to show them who would win the battle. And they did
exactly what the Lord said. host of people who had come up
against Him, the hosts of sins that had come against Him, the
Lord scared off just by the noise, just by the symbols, just by
the sound of salvation is of the Lord. That's what all those
symbols and broken vessels were all about. Here's a broken vessel
standing right before you right now, crying out to you this day
that salvation is of the Lord. A body was prepared for those
that belong to God. A body was prepared to come to
this earth and righteously serve God Almighty and do His will. Look over back if you would,
back in our text of Hebrews chapter 10. And I'll bring this to a
close. The battle is won. Our conquering
Captain is leading us. The US A child is born to us. A child is born to us. A son
is given. He is leading us to victory. Look here at verse 7 again if
you would with me. Hebrews chapter 10. Then said
I, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of
me, to do thy will, O God. Above, verse 8. When He said,
Sacrifice and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering for sin,
thou wouldst not neither hadst pleasure therein, which were
offered by the law. Did you catch that? All of those
things that were offered by the law. Then said He, verse 9, Lo,
I come to do thy will, He taketh away the first, that He may establish
the second. He taketh away the first covenant,
the first that said, if you, if you will do this, if you do
that, He took that away. That's the law. That's what the
law does. Folks, if you could do the law
and do it perfectly, you wouldn't need a Savior, would you? I can't. Maybe I stand alone in that.
Maybe I don't, but I know this, I can't. It took away, what took
it away? This body that was offered? A
body that thou hast prepared, as we read in verse 5. He took away the first to establish
the second, by the witch will we are sanctified. We are set
apart. We are made holy through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. Then
it refers to the Old Testament law. Once again, every priest
had a daily ministering and offering, sometimes the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sins. But this man, this one body that
was prepared from before the world, this one man, after he
had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the
right hand of God Almighty. Why? Because that body was perfect. And it perfectly satisfied the
wrath of God that you and I deserve. Look at verse 13, from henceforth.
In other words, from now on. Until His return, from henceforth
expecting, till His enemies be made His footstool, for by one
offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. You know what that New Covenant
is? We've got a second. I can take
one more second, can't we? Here's that New Covenant. That
New Covenant right here in 1 Corinthians 11. This cup, this cup that represents
His blood, this cup that we drink, Twice a month, representing His
blood that we take in remembrance of Him is the New Testament in
my blood. Wow. Why did God have to provide
a body? Why did He have to prepare a
body? Because His Son needed something
to dwell in, in death. Our death. All of our iniquities were laid
upon Him. Isn't that what we read in Isaiah
53? All of our iniquities were laid upon Him. Aren't you thankful? Aren't you thankful God had to
prepare a body for you and I?