Let us commence our service by
singing together hymn number 419 to the tune Wilton, 437. Just are thy ways and true thy
word, great rock of my secure abode, who is a God beside the
Lord or wears a refuge like our God? hymn 419, tune Wilton, 437. I rise, with truth I rise. Great book of my Savior, I'm
bound. There is a God, beside the law. O reserved refuge, holy and abode. Tis He that kept me with His
mind, ? Gives me His early song to hear ? ? And God with sin and love I find
? ? Spreads His love beyond measure ? O my shield. In gifts of earth, Shed thee
thy brow. There God of my salvation is,
And of His eyes a pearl of gold,
Sweet is the grace that from them gives. Before the star there's a being,
I will exalt my Father's name. Lord, tend my heart, then lightly
raise. Help me be praised, ? And the shame ? ? Today we come,
rejoin us now ? Thy grace forever shall excel,
Thy love to save, in Christ the head, men's heart and in it, Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God in Psalm 40. Psalm 40. I waited patiently for the Lord,
and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up
also out of an horrible pit, out of the marred clay, and set
my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a
new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see
it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man
that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud,
nor such as turn aside to lies. Many, O Lord my God, are thy
wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which
are to us wrought. They cannot be reckoned up in
order unto thee. If I would declare and speak
of them, they are more than can be numbered, sacrifice and offering
thou didst not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened, burnt
offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said
I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my
God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips. O Lord, Thou knowest. I have
not hid Thy righteousness within mine heart. I have declared Thy
faithfulness and Thy salvation. I have not concealed Thy lovingkindness
and Thy truth from the great congregation. Withhold not thou
thy tender mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy lovingkindness and thy
truth continually preserve me, for innumerable evils have compassed
me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than
the hairs of mine head, therefore my heart faileth me. Be pleased,
O Lord, to deliver me. O Lord, make haste to help me.
Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul
to destroy it. Let them be driven backward and
put to shame that wish me evil. Let them be desolate for a reward
of their shame that say unto me, aha, aha. that all those
that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee. Let such as love
thy salvation say continually, the Lord be magnified. But I
am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon thee. Thou art
my help and my deliverer. Make no tarrying, O my God. May the Lord bless the reading
of his own precious word and grant unto us a spirit of real
prayer. Almighty, most merciful, and
eternal God of heaven, who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth
iniquity, that passeth by the transgression of thy people,
O most gracious Lord, we do pray that we may now be able to bow
before Thee and we acknowledge our sin and our sinfulness. We acknowledge, O Lord, that
sin lives in us, but may we not live in sin, but may we live
to Him that died. May we be surrendered unto the
Crucified One. And may the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and the love of God our Father, and the sacred
fellowship of the Holy Spirit, rest and abide with us. We do
humbly beseech thee. Oh, we pray for thy grace continually. We thank thee for those precious
words, and he giveth more grace. For, Lord, we constantly, hour
by hour, feel to need thy grace. We need thy grace to save us
from our sins. We need thy grace to subdue our
sins within us. We need thy grace, O Lord, to
guide us in that right way, even the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that, Lord, thy word declares
that he is full of grace and truth. A fullness resides in
Jesus our head, and ever abides to answer our need. Oh, we pray,
most gracious Lord, that thou wouldst indeed forgive our sins,
that thou wouldst wash us in the precious blood of Jesus,
to cleanse us from all our sin and from all our unrighteousness,
that thou wouldst clothe us with that glorious everlasting robe
of thy righteousness, Lord Jesus. Oh, we do pray to be led and
taught and guided by thy good spirit. And we do pray for those
divine drawings of our heavenly Father to draw us unto his best
beloved, all glorious Son, Jesus Christ. We pray that thou wouldst
come here this afternoon in this little house of prayer and visit
us with thy great salvation. Show us thy ways, O Lord, teach
us thy paths, and graciously work mightily, powerfully, and
effectually among us. Gather in, precious souls. Send thee glory and light and
power of gospel truth into this village and the surrounding villages
and hamlets. and let us see thy work and thy
power and thy glory as thou usest to be in the sanctuary. Let us
see signs following the preaching of the word. O gracious God,
guide us, O thou great Jehovah, pilgrims in a barren land. We
are weak, but thou art mighty. Hold us with thy powerful hand. O Lord, we pray for all in trouble
and trial and affliction, O that thou wouldst be gracious and
grant thy divine support and blessing and help. Grant that
grace to wait upon thee, for they that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength. They shall mount upon wings as
eagles, they shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and
not faint. Enable us to look to thee. Enable
us to cleave to thee. enable us to cast all our cares
upon thee. We would, O Lord, seek to enter
thy gates with praise and with the voice of thanksgiving, especially,
Lord, as we come to this season of the year. And as the dear
apostle says, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. We do thank thee for Jesus Christ. We do thank thee for the wonderful
and glorious birth of Jesus, the Son of God, and that the
word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And may we behold his
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth. And we've read together in thy
word, lo, I come. I delight to do thy will, O God.
Yea, thy law is within my heart. We do thank Thee for Jesus Christ. We thank Thee that He was made
of a woman and made under the law that He might redeem them
that are under the law. We thank Thee that He has fulfilled
and honoured and magnified that holy law that we have broken
and despised. He has honoured and fulfilled
and magnified it. Oh, that we might see in His
glorious person the law fulfilled and the sacrifice of Calvary,
divine justice satisfied, fill our hearts with gratitude for
that profound act of our eternal God to redeem his people from
their sins. He was made sin for us and we
do thank thee that it was so and that you willingly took the
burden of our sins. And he said, to this end was
I born, for this cause came I into the world. We do thank thee,
most gracious God, for thy lovingkindness, for thy great goodness. We thank
thee, most gracious Lord, that he died for our sins and rose
again for our justification and is now bodily ascended into heaven
and sitteth at thy right hand. would, O Lord, bow and humbly
acknowledge thy loving-kindness, thy great goodness. We thank
thee for thy goodness to us as a church and as a congregation
and the greatness of thy mercy and thy love. We do thank thee,
most gracious Lord, for all thy tender mercies, for all thy loving-kindnesses
that have passed before us in the And we do pray, most gracious
Lord, that thou would bless our brethren, the deacons. Give them
grace, give them wisdom, give them help in their responsibilities
here and elsewhere. And graciously help us to pray
for one another. We pray for each of our brethren
and sisters in church fellowship. We thank thee for them and pray
that there may yet be others that shall be gathered in. We
think of that precious word, instead of thy father shall be
thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.
Oh, to see Zion's offspring come, and to see an in-gathering, and
to see the blessing on the young and rising generation. Hear us,
Lord, we humbly pray thee. Send out thy light and thy truth
into this village, and the surrounding villages and hamlets, pull down
the strongholds of Satan, grant that we may see the wonders of
our God in prodigals returning and in precious souls being gathered
in, and that the Lord Jesus may be exalted as a prince and as
a saviour, for to give faith and repentance and remission
of sins. Let thy work appear unto thy
servants and thy glory unto their children, O Lord, we do beseech
of thee. We pray, most gracious God, that
thou, in thy great mercy, would remember the whole of our congregation,
the little ones, the children, the young people, all that thou
would remember each one of them, and bless them, and bless them
with that rich grace that is in Christ Jesus, and bless them
with faith and repentance, that there may be a turning away from
the things of this life and a turning unto thee. Oh, let thy work appear. Most gracious Lord, we do humbly
pray thee. We pray, O Lord, that thou wouldst
guide and direct our young friends in all the paths of life and
supply all their needs whether it's to do with their education
or employment or a partner in life's journey, we lovingly commend
them to Thee and to the Word of Thy Grace, which is able to
build them up and to grant them the inheritance among them that
are sanctified. And, O Lord God, we do pray.
Remember, we're all in the midst of the journey of life, bearing
the heat and the burden of the day, and deliver us from the
temptations of Satan. And Lord, whether he comes as
a roaring lion or as an angel of light, may we be delivered
from his power and from his influence. May we see the fulfilling of
that wonderful promise. When the enemy comes in like
a flood, the spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against
him. Hear us, O God. we do humbly beseech thee. And
arise, arise, O God of grace, into thy rest descend thou in
the ark of thy strength, and let thy priests be clothed with
salvation, and thy saints shall shout aloud for joy. For, Lord,
there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, and there
will be joy here, O Lord, over sinners that repent of their
sins. O Lord God, We do pray that we remember each one in
whatever path they walk at this time. And that remember that
those of us, O Lord, that are now in the evening time of life's
journey and graciously undertake for us, prepare us for that great
change which must come. Prepare me, gracious God, to
stand before thy face. Thy spirit must the work perform. for it is all of grace. We do pray, most gracious God,
that thou wouldst remember thy servants as they labour in word
and doctrine upon the walls of Zion today and graciously grant
yet signs to follow the preaching of the word. Remember our little
group of churches to which we affiliate. We do pray that thou
wouldst remember the editors of our magazines, the secretaries
of our societies, the committees as they gather, and that divine
guidance may be given. But above all, that the wind
of the Spirit may blow. Instead of a decline, may we
see an increase. And we see the great decline
in Zion in our days. And Lord, is there not a cause?
And we pray that thou would bring us to real repentance and a turning
again unto thee, Oh, send out thy light and thy truth among
us, O Lord, we do pray thee, that instead of the closing of
chapels, we may see the building of chapels, instead of a decline
in numbers, that we may see an increase in numbers. Oh, do heal
us, Lord, we pray thee, and have mercy upon us for thy great namesake. We do humbly beseech thee, wherever
thy people gather, Wherever thy servants stand, we pray that
thou wouldst send out thy light and send out thy truth. We do
humbly beseech thee. And we pray that thy watchmen
may see eye to eye. Hear us, O Lord, we pray thee.
Help us to love each other and serve each other and bear each
other's burdens, thereby fulfilling the law of Christ, seeking the
good of thy church, of thy Zion. When is it, brethren, all agree,
and let distinctions fall, when nothing in themselves they say,
and Christ is all in all. Hearken, O Lord, we do pray thee. Be with us as we turn to thy
holy word. Come and open thy word to our
heart and to our understanding. Come and touch one's lips with
a live coal from off the heavenly altar. Come and lead us by thy
good spirit into the truth as it is in Jesus. Come and open
the deaf ears and cause the blind to see and the dumb to speak.
Lord, only thou are able to do these things. We ask with the
forgiveness of all our many sins for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. Let us now sing together hymn
number 421 to the tune Wilton 437. Sorry friends, I've got
the wrong tune there. 920. The tune is Steel 920. To God the only wise, our Saviour
and our King, let all the saints below the skies their humble
praises bring. Hymn 421, tune steel 920. ? Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's
early light, ? ? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last
gleaming? ? ? Whose broad stripes and bright
stars, through the perilous fight, ? In the name of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. ? There's no such thing ? ? As
safe and kind ? ? As home in my own land ? O'er the ramparts we watched,
were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the
bombs bursting in air, ? In glorious praise ? ? Let all
the world sing of thy praise ? ? When through all the trials of
sin ? ? Shall we triumph again ? ? Shall we triumph again ?
? O'er the hills of Wisconsin ?
? Hail, all ye people of God ? ? And the rocket's red glare, the
bombs bursting in air ? greatly feeling to need the Lord's
gracious help, I would direct your attention to Psalm 40, and
we'll read verses 7 and 8 for our text. Psalm 40, verses 7 and 8. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my
God. Yea, thy law is within my heart.' Then said I." The person speaking,
we know that this was penned by David. It says to the chief
musician, a psalm of David. But we have the person, the glorious
person, of Jesus Christ that is speaking here through the
psalmist. And in his voice that we hear,
then said I, lo, I come. In the volume of the book, it
is written of me. And the volume of book, of course,
is the Word of God. And throughout the Old Testament,
right from the very beginning of Holy Scripture, But we have
the promise, right from the book of Genesis, in the fall of man,
the promise is given, thy seed. In thy seed shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed. It was said to Abraham. It was
said also to Adam and Eve in the garden, thy seed. So from
that time, they were looking for the seed to come. the promise
of salvation, of redemption. It would be, when it was given
to Adam and Eve, it would be 4,000 years before Christ would
come. And yet that promise would be
fulfilled. Then said I, so we can take that
right back to the Garden of Eden, then said I, lo, I come in the
volume of the book it is written of me. You see, the seed of the
woman in the broadest sense of the word is spoken to Adam and
Eve. Of their seed, through their posterity, the Saviour would
come to redeem lost man. To redeem lost man. Adam fell
into sin. Eve, his wife, was tempted of
the devil. She fell into sin. It was a little
incremental step-by-step when the devil introduced a question. When he challenged the Word of
God, the Lord had said to man that the day thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die. But the devil said to Eve, thou
shalt not die. doesn't want you to be like him,
to know good and evil. See the subtlety of Satan, in
his temptations. And then when they fell, their
eyes were opened, they realised and they covered themselves,
they knew their nakedness, their emptiness, their poverty, their
utter fall. What a fall, the fall of man
was, when man fell into sin. And God draved them out of the
Garden of Eden. And he put that flaming sword
which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life.
And man was cast out. And the hymn writer says, doesn't
he, since Adam by transgression fell, he ruined all his future
race. The seeds of evil once brought
in increased and filled the world. You know friends, we must never
remember we sin because we're sinners. That's the natural propensity
of our hearts. It's sinful. It's corrupt. One hymn writer says that since
that fall of Adam, nothing, nothing merely human's right how true
that is, what a fall it was, and hence death, death, the wages
of sin is death. Sin is, as we read in the first
epistle of John, sin is any transgression of the law of God, God's holy
righteous law. and it's any transgression of
that holy law. And the word of God is exceedingly
clear, very clear, we all have sinned. There's no exception. We all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And so that is why we have evil
and sin in the world. The root of it is the fall of
man in the Garden of Eden. Before Adam and Eve had any children,
they fell into sin. And so every single child born
into this world, with one exception, was born in sin. The one exception
is Jesus Christ, who we have in our text, lo, I come. He was
born without sin. He was born, it was a supernatural
conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary. The Holy Ghost overshadowed
the womb of the Virgin. And it said that holy thing that
shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And in
that wonderful mystery of godliness, the Son of God was born. Lo,
I come. The apostle Paul, when he writes
his epistle to thee, Hebrews he quotes this scripture, Lo
I come, in the volume of the book it
is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God, yea thy
law is within my heart. I delight to do thy will, thy
law is in my heart. Christ came We read in Isaiah
chapter 42 concerning the coming of Christ and it speaks there
in Isaiah 42, Behold my servant, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth. That is of course the person
of Christ, the son of God manifest in the flesh. Behold my servant
whom I mine elect in whom my soul delighteth. This is the
Father speaking of the Son, my servant. He's spoken of in Holy Scripture
as being a servant. He came to serve. And this is
what is spoken of in our text. I delight to do thy will, O my
God. Yea, thy law is within my heart.
The law was made for man. And that law was in the heart
of Christ. And if we look into the Holy
Scriptures we find in the Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle speaks
of this, that man has the law written in his heart. He knows
the difference between right and wrong. It's written in his
heart. We have the law also given at
the time of Moses engraven in tablets of stone. And in that law, as Christ himself
says, that there is the aspect of the law which regards our
duties to God. Love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, with all thy soul. And then our duties to our neighbor,
to our fellow creatures, and thy neighbor as thyself. And the Lord Jesus Christ, he
fulfilled this absolutely, completely. But he did it on the behalf of
his partner. And this promise in the word we had before is
Lo, I come. This is what they were looking
for. What a light this must have been
in the days of the sweet Psalmist of Israel. Lo, I come. When the Holy Spirit opened their
eyes to understand It's the same as He does to us. He did the
same to them. He opened their eyes to understand
that this was the Messiah. This is the Prince of Peace.
Behold My servant, whom I uphold. Do you think of the Lord Jesus
when He washed His disciples' feet? He said to them, if I,
your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, See, he came as a servant. He
washed their feet, he humbled himself, and he said to his disciples
that they were to go and do likewise, as he had done for them, to serve. And here in Isaiah 42, the father speaking of mine elect,
in whom my soul delighted, I have put my spirit upon him, he shall
bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. And if you look on through in
that chapter 42, it says in verse 21, the Lord is well pleased
for his righteousness sake, that is my servants sake, he will
magnify the Lord. and make it on the law that you
have broken and I have broken. And we continue to break it. There is none that sin is not.
There's none. We all have sinned and we all
do sin. And because of that sinful nature that we have, it's utterly
impossible for us to keep that holy righteous law. Not that
we should not try, we should try continually, but we can't
do it. Even as Christian believers we
can't do it. That is really clearly set before
us by the Apostle Paul in the epistle to the Galatians. How that it's impossible for
us to do those things. the great error in the church
at Galatia, what was that they were deodizing teachers that
were teaching the Christian believers in the church at Galatia that
it was because they were now believers and following Christ
that it was possible for them to fulfill the law of God and
live a holy life, a sinless life. And the apostle immediately sees
that this is completely wrong. It cannot be done. that you can really do this.
And of course, the point he's making is only one person has
ever fulfilled the law. There's only one person who's
ever honoured and magnified that holy righteous law, and that
is the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, manifest in the
flesh. You see, the Lord was well pleased
for his righteousness sake, and his purpose in coming here upon
this earth, One of those purposes was to live a life that was perfect, that was sinless. And this is something of the
glory of Christ. He was in his holy life, in that
sinless life. In Jeremiah 23, We read there,
Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord, our righteousness. It's the only
righteousness acceptable to God and the Apostle in the Epistle
to Galatians labours that very point. It's only Christ that's
fulfilled the law. And he says in the Romans, Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness. Oh, my beloved friends, you'll
only find one righteousness acceptable to God, and that is the righteousness
of God's only Son, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, Jehovah
Sidkenu, the Lord, our righteousness. Spoken of in the prophecy of
Isaiah, of the robe of his righteousness,
the glorious robe It's the last verses of Isaiah chapter 61. That glorious robe of Christ's
righteousness. And this is what is acceptable
to God. And this is where a sinner is
acceptable to God. In that glorious everlasting
robe of the righteousness of God's son. You see, he says here,
in this way of prophecy, in this Psalm 40, He speaks of being
brought up, verse 2, out of a horrible pit, out of the Maori clay, and
set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. It's David speaking. Set my feet upon a rock. Upon
this rock. What rock? Christ. Upon this
rock I build my church. and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it, this glorious eternal rock of ages, which is
God manifest in the flesh. Rock of ages, cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee, let the water and the blood from thy
riven side which flow, be of sin a double cure, cleanse me
from its guilt and power, the eternal rock of ages, our Lord
Jesus Christ. He brought me up also out of
an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a
rock, and established my goings, and he hath put a new song in
my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it and feel,
and shall trust in the Lord. You see, We quoted that lovely word this
morning, probably one of the most well-known words in the
scriptures. God so loved the world, he gave
his only begotten son, and whosoever believeth in him, whosoever believeth
in him shall be saved, shall be delivered from sin and Satan's
power. This salvation is only found
in Jesus Christ. eternal son of the eternal God. Now in a sense there is a emphasis
here for Loaika. What does this prove? The divinity
of Christ. He's speaking of before he came.
Now we, when we were born, that was the beginning of our life.
But Christ the Son of God, when He was made flesh, He had been
there all eternity before. And hence He could say here,
Lo, I come. And this is hundreds of years
before He came. Lo, I come. In the volume of
the book it is written of me. I delight to do thy will. O my
God, yea, thy law is within my heart, in the heart of Christ
as a man. Thy law is in my heart. And he came to fulfil it. He came to honour that holy,
righteous law. You know the Apostle expounds
this text to us. We're exhorted to compare spiritual
with spiritual. and in the epistle to the Hebrews
in the 10th chapter the Apostle takes up this very word that
we have before us here and he quotes to us from Psalm 40 in
Hebrews chapter 10 and in that previous part of the Hebrews
10 the Apostle says for the law having a shadow of good things
to come not the very image of the things, can never, with those
sacrifices which they offered, that of course was the Levitical
law, year by year continually make the comers there unto perfect. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered, because that the worshippers once purged
should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices
there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible, see the
emphasis here, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls
and of goats should take away sins. Now he quotes from this
Psalm 40, wherefore when he cometh into the world as the Son of
God came into the world as a man. He says, sacrifice an offering
thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. The body prepared of the Father,
the hymn writer says, doesn't he? The body prepared by the
Father assumes. The Son of God assumed that holy
human nature. that was prepared of the Father
for him when the Holy Ghost overshadowed the womb of the Virgin. In burnt offering and sacrifice
of a sin thou hast no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me to do thy will, O God. Above, which we've been
looking at in Psalm 40, when he says sacrifice and offering
burnt offering and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither
hadst pleasure therein, which are offered by the law. Then
said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the
first. That is the types and shadows
of the old dispensation. He taketh away the first. That
is the Old Testament. that he may establish a second,
that is the New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I understand in the original
languages the word covenant and testament are the same thing,
exactly the same thing. And he taketh away the Old Testament
that he might establish the New. He himself fulfilled all the
types and shadows of the Old Testament. the glorious person
of Christ. He fulfilled and honoured and
magnified the holy law of God in his holy life, in the way
that he lived. As a man here upon earth, we, I believe it was this morning,
we said mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the
end of that man is peace. It's the person of Christ. Mark
the perfect man. the glorious person of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And then he says here concerning
the will in verse 10 of Hebrews 10, by the which will we are
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. You know friends there was only
ever need of this one sacrifice and all the sacrifices and offerings
of the Old Testament pointed us to this one place, the glorious
person of Jesus Christ at Calvary. All those sacrifices typified
this one sacrifice for sin, this holy sacrifice. When the Children of Israel came to the
tabernacle with their sacrifice. They had to take great care that
that sacrifice was not diseased or blind or had any blemish whatsoever
in it. It was emphasized it was to be
without blemish. Now why was there that emphasis
made that it had to be without blemish? Because it typified
Christ. You see, man being what man is,
and they would go to their flock and they would choose one that
was diseased or blind or lame in some way. But you know, it
was considered under the Levitical dispensation that it was an abomination
unto God to bring a blemished sacrifice. It had to be as far
as could be seen a perfect, unblemished, sacrifice because it represented
and pointed to the sacrifice of Christ by the which will we
are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. There's such an emphasis in the
Hebrews concerning this one sacrifice in the last verse of chapter
9 so Christ was once offered, look at the emphasis, once offered
to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. I've often told you reading Thomas
Goodwin, the puritan, and he commented on this verse and where
it says So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and
unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time, without
sin, and where it says without sin, at Goodwin, he says, there's
your justification, child of God. So what does he mean? To be justified is to be without
sin. What he means is, is that all
the sin of the church that was laid upon him He has offered
a perfect atonement and has redeemed the church. And therefore the
church is without sin because Jesus Christ has paid the price. He's paid the price to redeem
our souls. We read of Boaz in the book of
Ruth. Boaz is a lovely type of Christ. He says, fear not, O daughter,
all that thou requirest I will do for thee. What a beautiful
type of Christ. Lord, with my burden I begin. Oh, remove this load of sin.
It's been removed in Christ. It's been taken away in Christ. He says here in verse 11 of chapter
10 of Hebrews, he says, and every priest standeth daily ministering,
oftentimes offering the same sacrifices which can never take
away sins. What an emphasis there is here,
isn't it? Which can never take away sins. But this man, this
glorious holy God man, who we have in our text, Lo, I come.
But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down on the right hand of God from henceforth expecting
till his enemies be made his footstool, for by one offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. You see, my beloved friends,
their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Why? Because Jesus lived a righteous
life on their behalf. that holy righteous life that
perfect life that perfect man fulfilled the law on their behalf
in their room in their place and in their stead. You know
friends we often lay great emphasis and rightly so on the vicarious
sufferings and death of Christ on Calvary and that's quite right
that we should But we shouldn't leave out this that is so fundamentally
important. And that is his life. His whole
life. I once heard of a man preaching
in one of our pubs, I understand. And he said, the life of Christ
is nothing. The death of Christ is everything.
What utter confusion. The life of Christ and the sufferings
and death of Christ are absolutely essential to our salvation. They
are. In His holy life is our righteousness. In His sacred, holy, sinatonic
sacrifice is our salvation. He suffered what we should have
suffered for a never-ending eternity. those vast sufferings, we cannot
even begin to conceive of the tremendous sufferings of Christ. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the
volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will. O my God, yea, thy law, it is
in my heart. I delight to do thy will. He
said when He was here upon earth, this is the will of Him that
sent me. He came to do the Father's will. And you know, we have here in
this psalm, again it's speaking of Christ, and Christ in His
sufferings. It says in verse 11, withhold
not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy loving kindness
and thy truth continually preserve me. This is Christ praying to
his heavenly Father. And then in verse 12, is Christ
as our sin bearer. For innumerable evils have compassed
me about. This is Christ bearing the sins
of his people. We've often explained to you
Christ in the garden of Gethsemane and though he sweat as it were
great drops of blood falling down to the ground why because
the sin of the whole church was laid on him there in the garden
of Gethsemane that is why that is why he he says it says and
he being in an agony sweat as it were great drops of blood
falling down to the ground under the tremendous weight of the
sin of the whole church It was laid upon Christ in the garden. And the apostle says he took
our sins and he nailed them to his cross. And this is Christ here in this
verse 12, for innumerable evils have encompassed me about, mine
iniquities. See what he calls them? Mine
iniquities. And yet we read of Christ that
he did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, This is Him
personally taking our iniquities upon Himself. And this is what
is revealed to us here. For innumerable evils have encompassed
me about, mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I
am not able to look up. They are more than the hairs
of mine head, therefore my heart faileth me. Oh, the tremendous
weight of the sin of the Church, as it was laid upon our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. O Lord, make haste to help me.
See, in the Book of Psalms, we are given, by the sweet Psalmist
of Israel, an insight into the very sufferings of our Lord Jesus
Christ. In Psalm 22, in particular, The
whole of Psalm 22. It's all Christ speaking. Christ himself speaking. And
he starts with the language of himself on the cross. My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why? The sin of the church. You know, it's Gatsby, isn't
it, in one of his hymns. were the nails and the spear,
my sins. My sins were laid on him there.
Not in part, but the whole of our sins were laid upon Christ. And he prayed. He prayed with
his own life. He prayed with his own life.
I lay down my life for my friends. And there on Calvary he says,
my God, my God, why? hast thou forsaken me? Why art
thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not, and in
the night season am I not silent? This is Christ. It says in verse
6, and just consider how low that the Lord Jesus came, but
I am a worm, a no man, a reproach of men, and despised of the people. Oh, the condescension, the tremendous
condescension of Jesus, the Son of God. I am a worm, and no man,
all they that see me laugh me to school, they shoot out the
lip, they shake their head. You know, friends, if this is
how they treated the Master, how much more us? If they call
the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more us? And what they said, he trusted
on the Lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver him, seeing
he denied it in him. And these are the very words
that were spoken by those that surrounded him at the cross. And then Christ prays, but thou
art he that took me out of the womb. Thou didst make me hope
when I was upon my mother's breast. I was cast upon thee from the
womb. Thou art my God from my mother's belly. This is Christ
speaking. Be not far from me, for trouble
is near, and there is none to help. In verse 14 he says, I
am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, it is melted
in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up. This
is Christ, the glorious Redeemer. My tongue cleaveth to my jaws,
and thou hast brought me The Living One, the Almighty, thou
hast brought me into the dust of death. He came there for his people.
I lay down my life for his friends. I have power to lay my life down
and it's the Son of God speaking of that holy life that he took
in the womb of the Virgin. That holy human life. And he
says I have power to lay my life down. I have power to take it
again. This commandment have I received
of my father. And he fulfilled that commandment. You see, as it says in our text,
I delight to do thy will. Oh my God, for dogs have compassed
me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me, they pierce
my hands and my feet, I may tell all my bones and they look and
stare upon me. They part my garments among them
and cast lots upon my vesture. be not thou far from me O Lord,
O my strength, make haste thee to help me deliver my soul from
the sword. You see this sacred language
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that is revealed to us
by the Spirit in the Holy Scriptures of truth. Then said I, Lo, I
come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. I delight to do thy will. O my
God, yea, thy law is within my heart. The law was in his heart
and he fulfilled it. We are, we by nature, are sinful
in our hearts, sinful in our thoughts, sinful in the things
that we do. That is our nature. Everything
we touch is stained and dyed by sin. But this man, the holy
God man, the man Christ Jesus, he did no sin. Neither was guile
found in his mouth, He came to fulfil the law for us. What love! On such love, my heart still
ponders. Love so rich, so full, so free. He became our lawful filler.
And in becoming our lawful filler, He becomes our righteousness.
His perfect obedience is ours by faith. This is what the believer
receives by faith, when believing in Jesus Christ. They received
the law fulfilled and honoured and magnified in Christ. I delight to do thy will. And
that is exactly what he's done. And this is the will of the Father
that sent him to do his will. And he has done it. And he paid
the redemption price with his life. He did. says in the previous
verse 6 he says sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire
mine ears hast thou opened burnt offering and sin offering hast
thou not required then said i low i come you come to make an end
of sin you come to bring to an end the sacrifice and offerings
of the levitical dispensation they are typical but this is
the glorious perfection of what they typify in the glorious person,
the great antitype is the person of the Son of God manifest in
the flesh and in him we see the law fulfilled and in him we see
divine justice satisfied in that holy sinless sacrifice that he
offered on the cross of Calvary. You know we'll never find perfection
in the flesh but you will find perfection in Christ. Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the
volume of the book it is written of me. I delight to do thy will,
O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. The Father sent him to suffer,
bleed, and die for the sins of his people, and he did that perfectly. But then he rose again. He swallowed
up death in victory. I delight to do thy will, and
this was the will of the He should rise from the dead.
And he said, because I live, he shall live also. And he was
fulfilling the law of his holy father. When he did that, the
will of God, he brought in everlasting righteousness. I delight to do
thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is within my heart. But he didn't end in the resurrection. He then ascended into glory.
He made a new and living way into the holy place. For such
an high priest have we that is passed into the heavens, Jesus,
the Son of God. And he sitteth now at the right
hand of his Father, and he receives all his children. He does. They're accepted in the beloved.
They are complete in him. And finally, he will receive
them all into eternal glory, to be forever with the Lord.
What a sacred, precious salvation that is. Then said I, lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my
God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. May the Lord have his blessing. Let us now sing together hymn
number 20. The tune is Wilton, 437. Ere the blue heavens were stretched
abroad, from everlasting was the Word. With God he was, the
Word was God, and must divinely be adored. Hymn number 20, tune
Wilton, O come, O come, Emmanuel, ? Just divine, living, and true
? ? The peace that never grows in vain ? ? I is the fruit and the fruit's
stem ? ? It is the fruit and the fruit's stem ? Oh, say does that star-spangled
banner yet O say can you see, by the dawn's
early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's Thy generation, pure and fair,
O Calvary. E'er the ramparts we watched,
were so gallantly streaming? ? That he may hope of that great
love ? ? For his kinsman King, O Christ, have mercy ? O'er the ramparts we watched,
were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the
bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag
was still there. and the law, truth, the word
of grace, when truth is right, the Godhead show. ? Sleep in heavenly peace ? ? Sleep
in heavenly peace ? ? Sleep in heavenly peace ? ? Descending from the horizon ? Now, may the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, the sacred fellowship
of the Holy Spirit, rest and abide with us each, both now
and forevermore. Amen.