Turn with me, please, in your
Bibles to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. We'll read
from verse one. Hebrews chapter 10. I'm reading
from verse one. For the law having a shadow of
good things to come and not the very image of the things can
never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually
make the comers thereunto 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 that the blood of bulls and of goats should
take away sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not,
but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou hast had 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, when he said, sacrifice
and offerings, and burnt offerings, and offering for sin that would
not, neither had 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
he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all. And every priest standeth daily
ministering and offering oft times the same sacrifices, which
can never take away sins. 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. Who of the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us. For after that he had said before,
this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,
saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts and in
their minds will I write them. And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Now where remission of these
is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the
veil, that is to say his flesh, and having a high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold
fast the profession of our faith without wavering. He is faithful,
that promised. And let us consider one another
to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting
one another, and so much the more, as we see the day approaching. Amen. May the Lord be pleased
to bless this reading from his word. I was so grateful that Brother
Larry read the portion that he did and commented upon it by
way of commentary as we were going through and pointed out
the fact that this man, this nameless individual went as the
servant of Abraham in order to fulfil the purpose of Abraham
and to bring home a bride for his son. And it's lovely to remember
that even that man, servant as he was, was fulfilling his master's
requirements. He was fulfilling that job which
he had been given to do. And this evening I want to spend
a little while thinking with you about the seventh verse that
we read together in the 10th chapter of Hebrews. Let me read
it again to you. Then said I, lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. This is speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and it's speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ entering
into and fulfilling his role as the servant of God, doing
what God the Father told him as the God-man to do. Sometimes we think about the
way in which the Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily came and is satisfied
the will of his father, but the Lord himself speaking about this
role that he accepted willingly, certainly, this role that he
fulfilled in its entirety, speaks about the fact that this work,
this mediatorial work, this covenantal work, was commanded of him by
his father. He was instructed what to do. He was commanded that he had
to come into the world and fulfill these obligations. I come to
do thy will, he said. And this evening, I want to consider
with you 10 instructions, 10 words. The Lord himself calls
them commandments. 10 commandments. Not Moses' commandments,
but the 10 commandments that were given to the Lord Jesus
Christ that he had to fulfill in his mediatorial capacity as
the God-man. We read in John chapter 10 and
verse 18, no man taketh my life from me, but I lay it down of
myself. I have power to lay it down and
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my father. And again in John 12, verse 49,
he says, for I have not spoken of myself, but the father which
sent me, he gave me a commandment. What I should say and what I
should speak. And then John 14, 31, but that the world may know that I love
the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so
I do. And it's my purpose this evening
to look at 10 explicit instructions that the Lord Jesus Christ was
given, that he had to fulfill, that he had to accomplish in
order to do what he told his earthly mother and father he
was ordained to do, his father's business. Wist ye not that I
be about my father's business? And the Lord Jesus Christ, when
he came to do this work, knew what was before him, knew all
that he was instructed to do, knew the commandments that he
had been given, and indeed should he fail, should he fail to fulfill
all the commandments that he was given, then his work would
not have been successful. His work would have been a failure. The whole plan of salvation would
have fallen and all of God's chosen people would have been
lost. We recognize, of course, But
when the Lord Jesus Christ came, he came in order to deliver that
elect people, a people that had within the covenant of grace,
the everlasting covenant that's sometimes called in scripture,
being committed into his hands. A people that the Lord God himself
regarded as a people set apart, a people sanctified, a people
whom he had chosen for himself, foreknown, out of a love for
them. We're told in Deuteronomy 7,
Thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy
God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all
people that are upon the face of the earth. The elect of God
are a special people above all people that are upon the face
of the earth. God has that people as the apple
of his eye. He has that people as the focus
of his love and favor. So much so that in Psalm 33,
the psalmist tells us, blessed is the nation whose God is the
Lord. Now that's not America. I see
so many signs about God blessing America. God blesses His chosen
people. And it's nothing to do with your
nationality. It's nothing to do with where
you were born or who your daddy was. It has to do with the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he has a people whom he has
blessed upon the face of this earth, from amongst the Jews
undoubtedly, from amongst the Gentiles certainly, his chosen
people, his elect race. So Paul could say in Ephesians
1 verse 4, according as he had chosen us in him, in Christ,
before the foundation of the world. To this end, that we should
be holy, and without blame before him in love. But we are bound
to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, says Paul,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. So God has a chosen people. God
has a people for whom he desired the eternal presence and well-being
of that group. And he sent the Lord Jesus Christ
to secure their well-being, to secure their deliverance, to
provide that salvation that was necessary for them. And he sent
the Lord Jesus Christ with 10 explicit instructions. Here's
the first one. The Lord Jesus Christ must become
personally responsible for the safeguarding and well-being of
those committed into his hand. Just as Rebecca was committed
into the hands of the servant to make that journey back to
Isaac, the elect were committed into the hands of Christ it became
his responsibility to look after them. They were given to him
by the Father. In John chapter six, verse 39,
we read this. This is the Father's will, which
hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose
nothing. That was an instruction. That
was a command that was given to the Lord. of all that has
been given to you, lose nothing. He was responsible, personally,
the God-man, in the covenantal relationship that he had with
them, for the well-being and safeguarding, safekeeping, of
the chosen ones of God. And in John chapter 10, verse
28, we read, And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. The Lord Jesus Christ took and
recognized this responsibility that he was given, that he had
to safeguard, look after, personally guard every single one that had
been committed into his safekeeping by his father. And that was a
commandment given to the Lord for him to fulfill. But it was
a task It was a work that had to be done because we discover
that the elect, those chosen of God with all mankind fell
in Adam. And because of sin, because of
that condition into which they entered in Adam, their father,
there was a need that that people should be brought back to God
again. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
had it committed into his care that he should bring back Jacob
again to him. That was the responsibility that
he had. He must recover those that had
fallen in Adam. He must bring them back to God
again. And in Isaiah chapter 49, five
and six, we read this. And now saith the Lord that formed
me from the womb to be his servant. This is speaking of Christ. Now
saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob again to him. That was his job, that was his
task, that was what was laid upon him. Though Israel be not
gathered, the whole of Israel, yet shall I be glorious in the
eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. And he said, it is a light thing
that thou should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give thee
for a light to the Gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation unto
the end of the earth. And so it was committed into
the care of Christ, an instruction given to him, a commandment laid
upon him that he should go, and in that capacity of the God-man,
he should bring Jacob back to God. It was his responsibility
to keep every one of the elect safe, and it was his responsibility
to bring them back to God. That's the second commandment
that he was given. Thirdly, he must deliver them
from the curse of the law. You see, some people tell us
that salvation is a simple thing, an easy thing. It's just a word. It's just a decision. All that's
required is the agreement, the acquiescence to a proposition. If you do that, that's all that's
needed. Let us never think that salvation
was easily accomplished. The Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man,
came into this world as the only one who ever could save God's
elect. The only one who was able, the
only one who as the God-man, he had to be man, he had to be
united with us in our flesh, but he had to be God. A man could
not accomplish this, dare I say it, God himself could not accomplish
this except through the union with the flesh. So the God-man
had to come, but it was incumbent upon him in his entrance into
this world to labor all the days of his life to accomplish that
which his father required of him. You'll see as we go through
some of these instructions a little more that it was a laborious
task that he was given. It was a weighty responsibility. Our salvation has not been accomplished
easily. And though we are blessed by
the benefits of that salvation, though we are freely bestowed
with the gifts that the Lord Jesus Christ has earned for us
and secured for us. They were not easily bought and
the Lord Jesus Christ gave His all in order to fulfill the will
of His Father. And so He must deliver them from
the curse and condemnation of the law. He had to become a propitiation
for their sin. And whether that was the Jews
or whether that was the Gentiles, he had to take upon himself the
anger of God against the sin and against the disobedience
of the chosen people. He had to redeem them. And in Romans 3, 25 we read,
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith
in his blood, to declare the righteousness for the remission
of sins that are past. And that propitiatory work that
the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled, that work whereby he opened up
his own soul to the wrath of God, took upon himself the sin
of his people, died there in their stead, was an instruction
and a command given to him by the Father in order that the
elect of God, the chosen people of God, should not have to pay
the price of their own sins. That law which rightly condemned
them, that law which has always been the condemnation, the conscience
pricker of men, never designed to lift them up to God, always
designed to expose their unworthiness, and measure out and regulate
the degree of transgression and sinfulness and disobedience that
they were guilty of. Now we find that Christ takes
that responsibility onto himself And He is the propitiation for
our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the
whole world. That is also for the sins of
all those in the world for whom He took that responsibility,
for whom He bled and died. So the Lord Jesus Christ was
given this responsibility of taking and delivering his people
from the curse of the law. Then we read again also that
the Lord had to take a human body. We read about it a little
earlier. He must, in order to accomplish
that which God required of him, take a human body and a human
soul. He must be like unto us. He must take the same flesh and
blood as the elect, as the chosen people. And he needed to be made
like unto his brethren. Wherefore in all things it behoved
him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a
merciful and faithful high priest, in things pertaining to God,
and to make reconciliation for the sins of His people. And so we read in Hebrews chapter
10, verse 5, Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he
saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body
thou hast prepared me. That body was required. The Lord Jesus Christ, it was
required of Him that He took that body. That body was prepared
by God in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin that has had
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. This is the will of God, that
he should take that body prepared for him, that he should enter
into the humanity of fallen nature, that He, though without sin,
should take upon Himself that same flesh, that same blood,
that same reasonable soul, and should become one with man, that
He might deliver them out from under the curse. And so the Lord
Jesus Christ was required of His Father to take that human
body. And fifthly, He must obey the
law on behalf of his people. Let us remember that we are speaking
here of a man. We sometimes concentrate, I believe,
upon the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ at the expense of
properly considering his humanity. The Lord Jesus Christ needed
help in all of the work which he did. The Lord Jesus Christ
was constantly supported by his Father, reassured as he went
through his earthly life, went and was aware of his own needs. frequently going, spending hours
of prayer in His Father's presence, being supported and encouraged,
that dove coming from the sky, anointing Him, recognizing in
that voice, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,
hear ye Him. and all the way up to that moment
in the garden of Gethsemane where he was even upheld there by the
angel of God sent to support him. The Lord Jesus Christ was
protected and helped throughout his ministry. How many times
did people endeavor to take the Lord's life? How often they sought
to kill him and yet there was a time appointed by his father
and we see that the Lord, though a man, was able to be out of
danger on numerous occasions as the Lord delivered him to
that point where he would lay down his life on the cross. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
must obey the law on behalf of his people. He was responsible. It was necessary for him to both
honor and to magnify the law as righteous. He had to show
that it was the holy will of God and he had to fulfill it
perfectly. in order that he might thereafter
represent his people and he might provide for them that righteousness
which they required. It was by the obedience of one
that many are made righteous. In Galatians 4 verse 4 we read,
But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his
Son made of a woman made under the law, to redeem them that
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. That great redemptive work was
predicated upon this fact, that the one who gave his life, the
one who bled and died, was the perfect Son of God. And so we
find that the God-man, having come and having fulfilled that
law, having lived perfectly before God, having completely satisfied
all the demands of a holy God, nevertheless encountered the
sixth requirement that I have for you this evening. He must
lay down his life. There was in so many ways, The
evidence there that the Lord Jesus Christ was without sin.
There was the testimony of those around about him. There was the
witness of his friends. Even his very enemies were confounded
that they could not find any fault in this man. He was the
lamb without spot and blemish. He was perfect in all his ways. There was no need for him to
die. There was no requirement upon
him as the man to die, for he lived perfectly before God and
men. But he had to die. in order to
fulfill the will of his father. He had to die to be that vicarious
substitute. And though he was perfect in
all of his obedience, yet the God-man must endure that which
the sinner ought rightly to experience the judgment of God against His
transgression. The Lord Jesus Christ became
a suitable substitute. By His perfect obedience, He
was the only one who could be the substitute. Christ, in obedience
to His Father's command, made perfect through suffering. In Hebrews 2.10 we read, For
it became Him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things,
in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through suffering. The Lord Jesus Christ, having
obeyed the will of his Father, laid down his life upon the cross,
not for the sins that he had committed, but for the sins of
those into whose hand the eternal well-being and safeguarding had
been committed. This was all part of his responsibility,
all part of the job that was laid to him, all part of the
business upon which he was embarked. And seventhly, the Lord Jesus
Christ must sanctify his covenant people by offering up his body. Death is the wages of sin. Death must be endured. The Lord Jesus Christ offered
up his body as a perfect sacrifice to secure all that the elect
required. When we see the Lord in Gethsemane,
when we hear Him laboring under the anticipation of that which
He must soon endure, when we see, as it were, the blood-like
sweat upon Him and see the way in which His body was crushed
beneath the weight of the sin that He was about to endure,
we see that man, offering up his body willingly, taking the
place of his people, standing there before God ready to put
his people into that sanctified position, that special place
because of the sacrifice which he so willingly made. The prosperity of the elect was
required of the Son. The safeguarding of that people
was committed into his hand and he must do all things necessary
in order to accomplish their deliverance. That is why the
elect people elsewhere in Isaiah called the pleasure of the Lord
were made to prosper in the hand of Christ. And as the Prophet
Isaiah writes, it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put
him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for
sin. He shall see his seed, those
committed into his hand. He shall prolong his days in
them. And the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in his hand. This being committed into the
care of Christ, he saw that for which his soul travailed, and
he bore their iniquities. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many. Gately the Lord must atone for
the sins of his chosen ones. He must put an end to sin. Again, the meaning of the 10th
chapter in Hebrews showing how the sacrifice of the animals
was insufficient. It had to be repeated every year,
there had to be more blood spilled, there had to be more animals
slain. And the point was simply this,
that every time that blood was spilled, it brought again to
memory the refreshing of the sins for which that animal died. But the Lord Jesus Christ died
once and he put an end to sin. Therefore sin is remembered no
more. That's the peace of conscience
which we have in Christ that the animal sacrifices never could
supply. For we have to recognize those
who have come by faith to trust in the completed work of the
Lord Jesus Christ, that He has dealt with sin. It's gone. The Lord God says that He has
forgotten our sins. It'll never more be remembered
against us. And we, in that fact, find the
only place of comfort and solace from the conviction of sin and
the conscience of sin when we realize that if God himself has
declared us just, if God himself has forgotten our sins, if he
has taken them away and dropped them into the sea of his forgetfulness,
they will never more be remembered against us. So we have no cause
to harbor them in our own heart or in our own mind, but recognize
that Jesus Christ has put an end to them. And that was the
great work that he came to accomplish in this matter also, to atone
for the sins of his people, to finish the transgression, to
make an end of sin. In Daniel chapter 9, 24 we read,
70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy
city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sin. And now, once in the end of the
world, had He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
Himself. We find that great work of reconciliation,
that great work of bringing the Lord's people to the Father,
was accomplished there by the Lord Jesus Christ as He atoned
for the sins of His people, took away that sin, paid for that
sin, dealt with that sin, and brought transgression to an end. Ninthly, the Lord Jesus Christ
must bring in an everlasting righteousness. This again is
an expressed requirement of God. Daniel chapter nine, again we
read, he came to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in
everlasting righteousness. For the justification of the
elect no more and no less than a perfect holiness would be required. A perfect holiness, not one of
us. can go through a day without
sinning. Not one of us can live for an
hour upon the face of this earth without transgressing God's law. And yet here is the work of Christ
revealed, that a perfect righteousness has been secured, a holiness
has been demonstrated, All that is required in that perfect obedience
of the Lord Jesus Christ is bestowed upon this group, placed into
his hands, given to him to preserve and to protect. In Psalm 119,
thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness. And in Ephesians
4 24, and that ye put on the new man which after God is created
in righteousness and true holiness. The Lord Jesus Christ must bring
in a righteousness for his people. He must supply that garment which
they could not have for themselves by any other means. He must cover
them in their nakedness. He must bestow upon them that
which is needed in the presence of the holy God. Finally, the
God-man must bring his people to an eternal glory. That again was a requirement
of the Father. In Zechariah chapter 11 and verse
4 we read this, Thus saith the Lord my God, feed the flock of
the slaughter. The answer comes back a few verses
later on, and I will feed the flock of slaughter. Even you,
O poor of the flock." The Lord Jesus Christ was sent in order
to recover that little flock, that little group, those that
were his sheep. He called himself the Good Shepherd,
undoubtedly recognizing that role that God had placed upon
him as the shepherd of his sheep. And there, all those years before,
Zechariah, anticipating that shepherdly role that the Savior
would take, puts his prophetic utterance in this form, that
the role that Christ would take would be to feed the flock of
slaughter. The Son can say, I have glorified
thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. When the Lord Jesus Christ hung
upon the cross, you well remember the phrases that he used. We
talk about the seven sayings of the cross. That saying that
he uttered there at the end of his life was simply, it is finished. When the Lord Jesus Christ said
it is finished, he wasn't simply saying that his life had come
to an end. He was saying that the work which
the father had given him to do was now complete. What had the
Lord given him to do? He was to safeguard the elect. He was to bring Jacob again to
him. He was to deliver them from the
curse of the law. He was to take and offer his
human body at Calvary on the cross to become a curse for them. He had to be to show that he
was a suitable sacrifice, obedient to the law in every detail and
iota. And yet he was to suffer death
as the penalty of the law. The elect of God committed into
his care must prosper in his hand, that he was the only one
able so to bless them. And they must have all that was
required of God, secured, accomplished and delivered to them by the
Son in his sacrifice. To do that he had to atone for
their sins and put an end to sin for them that they may be
eternally righteous in him. He had to establish that perfect
holiness and bestow it upon them as he took their sins upon himself. And finally he must sustain and
preserve his people all the way through their lives until they
enter into their eternal let rest and there take part in the
consummation of all things. He must feed the flock of slaughter. How does he do that? He does
that in the person of the comforter as he sustains and upholds and
nourishes us day by day. The last verse we read in our
chapter this evening was Let us consider one another to provoke
unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting
one another, and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. We come to be fed We come as
the little flock. We come to take the benefits,
to receive the graces of all that the Lord God has accomplished
for us in Christ, for all that we have in Him. The Lord Jesus
Christ could say it is finished because it was a work done. It was an accomplished work,
sorted, completed, finished. In John 17, verse 4, the Lord
Jesus Christ says in His High Priestly Prayer, I have glorified
thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. He fulfilled all the requirements
for the salvation of His people. He fulfilled all that was required. And in the next verse we read,
And now, O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with
the glory which I had with Thee before the world was. the God-man
returning victorious into his father's presence, having accomplished
all that was needed, having done every work, every requirement,
fulfilled all the instructions, particularly given to him that
the elect might be delivered out of their state of sin and
curse and brought into that relationship with him. Let us never imagine
that the work of salvation is an easy work. It cost the Lord
everything to lay down his life for his people, but he has accomplished
everything. He said, job done, it is finished. The people committed into his
care are saved for all eternity by the one completed work of
their Savior, Jesus Christ. What a Savior. May the Lord bless
these thoughts to us this evening. Amen.