Turn, if you will, to Hebrews
chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. I'm going
to begin by making a tremendous understatement. And here it comes. You and I, we, all of us, everybody
in this country, everybody in this world, this can be said
of us. We really rather are fond of
our bodies. We like them right much. And
that's not to say that we're always pleased with our appearance,
either to others or ourselves. It's not to say we think our
body's perfect, although we rarely see the flaws in ourselves that
we so easily see in others. No, we don't necessarily think
we're perfect, but by nature, We certainly don't hate our bodies
either. We don't hate ourselves. And the scripture verifies that.
And you all remember this scripture because we're going to come back
to it at the end of the message. But in Ephesians 5 it says, For
no man yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth
it. And that's a real understatement, isn't it? We don't just take
a hammer and go, wham, I hate my body. We don't do those kind
of things, because we love our bodies. We like them. And no man ever hated his flesh.
If you look that up, it means we value our flesh. We like our
flesh. We actually adore the flesh of
this body. Now the world says, well, what's
wrong with that? What's wrong with it? You ever see somebody
go, just give yourself a hug. That's the world's attitude,
and ours pretty much by nature. And listen, there's nothing wrong
with taking care of the body that God has given us. We should
nourish it. We ought to eat right. We ought
to give our body what it needs to be healthy. We should cherish
the body that God's given us. Take care of it. Don't abuse
it with anything. And that's good and wise counsel
in and of itself. But the height of foolishness
is this. to not believe what God says
about these bodies. In Philippians 3, Paul wrote
about our vile body. And that means it's humiliating,
it's abused, it's abased. And in God's sight, these bodies
are vile. I'm sorry, as much as we like
them, they're vile. You see, Adam and Eve were created
perfect. Their bodies, we can't imagine. They were so gorgeous. They were
so fit. Their complexions were spotless. Their skin was like cream and
their hair like silk. And then they disobeyed God.
And everything changed. They became vile in the sight
of God. Their sin made them vile. They
became abased and disgusting, humiliating. They became low. Now they may have looked okay
for a while. We look at these babies and they
think, boy, they're cute, their skin's so nice, but it doesn't
take long, does it? Didn't take long. Before the
effects of sin begin to tell. And it's still happening, folks.
Adam and Eve died spiritually the instant that they ate that
fruit. They died spiritually but their
bodies didn't die spiritually. Their bodies didn't die right,
they didn't just fall over dead. No, they began to die. The vileness
was already in there and it began to show and their bodies began
to die. You recall what Lazarus' sister
Mary Or Martha, rather, said when our Lord told those men
to move that stone out of the way, and she went, oh no, nay,
Lord, no, no. She said, he stinketh. He stinketh. He's been dead four days. And
our Lord said, move the stone. You see, she knew his body was
now vile, in its full vileness. You know, there's a reason we
bury or rid ourselves of our bodies when they die. And we
do it pretty quickly, don't we? We don't waste time getting them
in the ground. It's because they smell bad. And the smell of death
is vile. It's a stench in God's nostrils
and he won't have it or tolerate it. It's the reason he made this
place called hell. That's where he sends them. He
wants them, they're gone. He will not tolerate vileness. in his presence, or sin. You
know, if all the soap, deodorant, cologne, perfume, toothpaste,
and mouthwash in the world was taken away, we might begin to
get a little better understanding of what by nature we smell like
to God, except a million fold. We by nature love sin and our
sinful bodies, despite how vile they are. But you know, let me
tell you something good. There was another man whose body
was made besides Adam. God, the true and living God,
did something really wonderful. Hebrews 10, don't look at it
yet, in verse 5, says, God prepared himself a body. He made Adam's
body, but he made another body for himself. Look here in Hebrews
10, start with verse one. It says, for the law having a
shadow of good things to come and not the very image of things
can never with those sacrifices, which they offered year by year
continually, make the comers there unto perfect. You read
in that Old Testament, they killed goats and bulls and lambs and
birds and everything else year after year after year. And then,
you know, this is saying they didn't do anybody any good. Look
at verse four, it says, For it is not possible that the blood
of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Why is that?
Why can't those sacrifices take away sin? It's simple. Goats
don't sin. Bulls don't sin. Lambs don't
sin. Turtle doves don't sin. It's
men that sin. And this was just a picture of
what was going to be required to put away the sin. Look at
verse 5. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, who? A man. A man came into the world. When he cometh into the world,
he saith, Sacrifice an offering thou wouldst not, but a body
hast thou prepared for me. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Spirit. You know what they did? They
made themselves a body. Y'all know what that body's name
was? Jesus. He's the Christ. He's the Lamb
of God. He's Immanuel, God with us in
the flesh. And he made him so that he could
put away the sin of his people. Skip down to verse 10 with me,
Hebrews 10, 10. By the witch, by the making of
this body, will we, we are sanctified, that means we're changed, we're
made new. through the offering, look at
this, of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. All those sacrifices
were given and accomplished nothing, but they were a picture of the
one who would come, the sacrifice who would come in a body, and
that sacrifice would accomplish the purpose. It would make us
new. It would accomplish its purpose.
Look at verse 11. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifice, which can
never take away sin. They did day after day after
day, year after year after year, didn't do any good. But verse
12, but this man, the Jesus Christ, this man, the God man, after
he had offered one sacrifice, this was himself, for the sins
forever, he sat down on the right hand of God. Why did he sit down?
He was done sacrificing. The priests never sat down, because
they never got anything done. But he sat down. Now turn over
to 1 Peter chapter 2 with me quickly. 1 Peter 2. What was happening at Calvary
when the man, Christ Jesus, was killed? He was taken care of
all the sin that his people ever committed with their body. You
know, we sin with these bodies. We sin with these hands. We sin
with these feet. But also we sin with these minds. And we sin with this heart. We're
a body of sin. But Jesus Christ came to take
care of all that. Look at 1 Peter 2, verse 24. Did I say 2 Peter? It's 1 Peter
2, verse 24. Jesus Christ, who his own self,
bear our sins in his own body on the tree. Why? that we being
dead to sins should live unto righteousness by whose stripes
were healed. For ye were as sheep gone astray,
but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of our souls. All right, turned a few pages
back to Philippians 3. What was Jesus Christ doing at
Calvary? He was changing. His people from vile to glorious. We've established these bodies
are vile. Something had to be done about
that. And look at Philippians 3 verse 20. For our conversation is in heaven,
from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned unto
His glorious body, according to the working whereby he is
able even to subdue all things unto himself. That's what he's
doing at Calvary. He was taking care of our vile
body and giving us his perfect or glorious body. And now look
across the page at Colossians 1. What happened at Calvary? Vile sinners were being made
qualified to inherit the kingdom of God. Is that possible? That's what God's word says.
You see in Colossians 1 verse 12, giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us meet, and that word meet means qualified.
Nobody goes to heaven to be with God unless they're qualified.
How are they qualified? Well, they can't have any sin,
but more than that, they gotta be perfect. They've gotta be righteous.
Verse 12, giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us
qualified to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness,
from our vileness, And it translated us into the kingdom of His dear
Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood, which is what
Tony's going to talk about, redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. It's from the blood being shed
out of this body, of Christ's body, that this is made possible. Now turn the page to Colossians
3. Colossians 3, verse 15. As a result of all of this, what
Christ was doing at Calvary, the scripture says, and let the
peace of God rule in your hearts. Quit worrying about your vile
body and look to Christ. It says, and let the peace of
God rule in your hearts, to the which also you are called in
one body and be you thankful. There's only one body that qualifies
us to go to glory. That's the body of the God man.
Do we see that? One more scripture, turn to Ephesians
chapter 5. In this very familiar portion of scripture, it's often quoted but there's
within this portion of scripture about how a husband and wife
ought to treat each other that we find a very unique couple
of verses. Let's begin in verse 22 where
it says, wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto
the Lord. Then it says, for the husband
is the head of the wife, even as Christ is head of the church,
and he's the Savior of the body. Whose body is he saving? He didn't
save his own body, did he? No, he let them beat him half
to death and then march him up the hill and kill him. He gave
his own body. So what body is he the Savior
of? us. He takes us and puts us in His
body, which is perfect. And do you see now verse 24,
Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives
be to your own husbands in everything. Husband, love your wives. even
as Christ also loved the church, which is his body, and gave himself
for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing
of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a
glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any other such
thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So
ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that
loveth his wife loveth himself. Now look at this verse again
I told you about. For no man yet hated his own
flesh, but nourish and cherisheth it." That's true. By nature,
we don't hate our own bodies. And we spend all our effort and
time trying to feed it, and nourish it, and love it, and take care
of it. But you know the meaning I never saw till just the other
day studying this? The Lord Jesus Christ had a body.
And he didn't hate his body. He had every right to hate his
body. Us, who are his body, we're vile.
But he didn't hate it. You know what he did? He nourished
it. He loved it. He saved it. You say, how's he nourish the
body now before we go be with him? He puts that man through
all kind of things. He prepared his word and then
he has men who come and feed us that word. That's how he nourishes
us. And how does he cherish us? One
day he's coming back and even though we don't deserve to go
and we're vile, He's coming back. He's going to get us because
he loves us. He'll take us where he is and then we'll know what
the new body is. It's being in Christ and it's
so glorious and wonderful. So how do we thank him while
we're waiting for that to actually happen in time? These four things. We worship him. We praise him
in song. We thank him in prayer and we
do the one thing he commanded us to. It's two things, but we're baptized,
and then we remember him by doing this. So that's why we're here.
All right. Brother Tony, let's bow together
before Tony comes. Father, we're thankful that you
prepared a body for yourself, and that Christ came and did
for us what we couldn't do for ourselves. Father, accept our
thanks and gratitude. Bless Brother Tony as he comes
now. that we might worship Thee, and
thank Thee, and praise Thee, and observe Thee in this table.
In Christ's name we give thanks. Amen. Let's turn in our Bible over
to Luke chapter 22. Now I'm going to read verse one.
Now the feast of the unlavened bread drew nigh, which is called
the Passover. Now let's look just for a second
at our setting here. Our Lord, as Brother Gabe brought
the message last week, has rode into Jerusalem on an ass. And as he come into Jerusalem,
the palms were laid down and they cried, Hosanna, Hosanna. And over the next several days,
our Lord was going to the temple daily. It says he was going early
and the people came to the temple early to hear him teach and to
hear him preach. And the Pharisees, they seen
this man, our Lord Jesus Christ, and they heard him. And the disciples
seen and heard him. And there was certainty that
something was going to happen. The Pharisees knew that if this
man continued preaching as he did and teaching as he did, then
this man would take the people and turn the people's heart.
I'm sure the disciples were certain, seeing this man riding in on
an ass, that he would soon establish his kingdom. So what we see here
in verse one is the feast of the unlavened bread drew nigh. Now look at verse seven. Then
came the day of unlavened bread, when the Passover must be killed. For generations, since back when
Moses was in Egypt with the people, for generations, for hundreds
of years, there had been thousands of lambs and goats whose blood
had been shed. For thousands of years, or rather
for hundreds of years, there had been thousands of sacrifice. But notice what the verse says. Then came the day when the Passover
must be killed. You see, the day of unlavened
bread, which is what day this is, was on the 14th day of the
first month. The Lord had commanded that on
the 10th day of the first month that the people were to take
a lamb on the 10th day and set it aside. And for four days,
they were to keep that lamb up. And on the 14th day, on the day
of unlavened bread, when they were to begin eating the unlavened
bread, in the evening, that lamb was to be slain. So what we see
here is the day. This is the day that the lamb's
blood must be shed. Now look with me at verse 8. And he sent Peter and John saying,
go and prepare us the Passover that we may eat. And he sent Peter and John saying
unto them, prepare the Passover that we may eat. down in verse
13, and they went and found as he had said unto them, and they
made ready the Passover. Now look at me at verse 14, and
when the hour was come. In verse one, we've seen that
the Passover, that the, it drew nigh. In verse seven, we see
that it is now the day of the Passover. And then here in verse
14, it is the hour of the Passover. Now look with me at verse 15. This is the word of our Lord
speaking to his disciples. And look what he says. And he
said unto them, with desire, I have desired to eat this Passover
with you before I suffer. I desire is the long he is craving. I have longed, I have craved
to eat this Passover with you. What he is saying is, I am about
to be made sin. I am about to face God's wrath. Yet, he says, I have longed and
I have desired for this minute. We're gonna turn one place, turn
over to Romans chapter nine. I want us to look, read two verses
of scripture. Verses two and verses three. And this is the word of Paul,
the apostle, speaking of Israel. He says this, that I have great
heaviness and continued sorrow in my heart, for I wish that
myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren's sake, my kinsmen,
according to the flesh. Paul wished himself to be accursed
from Christ for his brethren's sake. What we see here in verse
15 is that our Lord Jesus Christ desired to be accursed for your
sake. For the beloved of God, he desired
it. Not only was he made sin, but
for our sake he desired to be made sin. I'll turn back to Luke
chapter 22. And let us look at verse 17. And it says, he took the cup. He took the cup that held, represented
his blood. He took the cup that represented
his suffering. It is the cup that represents
the wrath of God. And what does he do with it?
And gave thanks. Our Lord had his blood in his
hand that was necessary to redeem us and he gave thanks for it. Why? Because he was being given
the desires of his heart. This is why he came and he gave
thanks. When he prayed, It was not a
general prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank
you for this day of our life. We thank you for this food. No. He held
that cup and he gave thanks. And I believe if we could hear
him, we would hear something like we read in John chapter
17 when he gave thanks. Now, let's look at verse 20. This cup, what is this cup? This cup is the New Testament
in my blood, which is shed for you. Testament means covenant. A covenant is agreement between
two parties. And with a covenant or a testament,
there are conditions in that covenant. There was an agreement
between God the Father and God the Son. And God the Son was
to give his blood. He was to give something in this
covenant. And he was to receive something
in his covenant. You had nothing to do in this
transaction. There was this covenant and this
transaction is between God the Father and God the Son. They
work out this salvation, not you. There was 12 men who sat
at this table. 11 of them were blessed. One of them was cursed. The 11
that were blessed, they were blessed. by the Lord Jesus Christ
and God the Father. Now, it is a covenant of grace. There is nothing that you bring
in this covenant. It is a new covenant. There's
no works in this covenant. So when we take this cup tonight
and this ordinance, let us remember what the Lord said When he says,
as oft as you do, do in remembrance of me. Remember our Lord's goodness. Remember his sacrifice. Remember his love and his willingness
to give himself and his blood for his people. May the Lord
help us to do so. Let us pray.