Christ's body, God's will, and salvation. In verse 4 of Hebrews chapter
10, we read, For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of
goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world. Now that thought is glorious. When he cometh into the world. He was, before He came, speaking
of His pre-existence as the eternal Son of God. He never began to
be the Son. He is the Son. I love what John said in 1 John
4, 3, He that confesseth not Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is not of God, but of that spirit of Antichrist. He came in the
flesh. He said, a body hast thou prepared
me. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Jesus Christ, the eternal son
of God, was made flesh. And in the flesh, He did what
He came to do. What did He come to do? Well,
the opening chapter of the New Testament tells us, Thou shalt
call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. And beloved, that's exactly what
He did. when he cometh into the world. We heard that song last
Wednesday. Matt sang, down from his glory,
ever living story. My God and savior came and Jesus
was his name. Born in a manger to his own,
a stranger. A man of sorrows, tears, and
agony. What condescension, bringing
us redemption, that in the dead of night, not one faint hope
in sight, God, gracious tender, laid aside his splendor, stooping
to woo. to win, to save my soul. Without reluctance, flesh and
blood his substance, he took the form of man, revealed the
hidden plan. Oh, glorious mystery, sacrifice
of Calvary. And now I know, The great I am
and I love this course. Oh, how I love him. How I adore
him, my breath, my sunshine, my all in all. The great creator
became my savior and all God's fullness dwelleth in him. when he cometh into the world."
Now, this is a quotation from Psalm 40. Would you turn with
me to Psalm 40? Psalm, the 40th chapter. Beginning in verse 5. Well, let's start in verse 1. I waited
patiently for the Lord. Who's the only one who would
say that? Have you ever waited patiently for the Lord? I dare
say you haven't. He did. This is the Lord speaking. Now look in verse five. Many,
O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and
thy thoughts which are to usward. Don't you love the way the Lord
speaks as an usward? When he's saying, I know the
thought you have to me, he's talking about every one of his
people too. You see, God's elect can never be separated from Jesus
Christ. And everything he did, he did
as in us. And when God spoke to him, he
spoke to us. Many, O LORD my God, are thy
wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which
are to usward. They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee.
If I would declare and speak of them, there more than can
be numbered. Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire. This is
that quote. 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's
written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy
law is within my heart. Now that's quoted here in Hebrews
chapter 10. Now, turn with me for a moment
while you're in the Psalms to Psalm 139. A body hast thou prepared me. You know, I was thinking about
the Lord's body. And I want you to think about how important
your body is to you. You don't want it to be in pain. You want
it to feel good. Everybody's body is very important
to them. What about the body of Christ
that God prepared for him? Look in Psalm 139. I'm moving slow through this. Verse
13. Once again, this is Christ speaking
and he says, for thou has possessed my reigns. Thou has covered me
in my mother's womb. I will praise thee for I am fearfully
and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works and that
my soul knows right well. My substance was not hid from
thee when I was made in secret. and curiously wrought in the
lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance
yet being unperfect. And in thy book, all my members
were written, which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there
were none of them. How precious also were thy thoughts unto me,
O God, how great is the sum of them." Now he's talking about
his body decreed by God wrought in the lower parts of the earth.
What all that means, I don't know, but it's glorious. Now
back to Hebrews chapter 10. Verse five. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he sayeth, and this is that quotation from Psalm
40, sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast
thou prepared. Now, nothing will be done by
those sacrifices and offerings as far as bulls and goats, but
he says, a body, a body has thou prepared me. Now, this is the
body that was born of the Virgin, conceived by the Holy Ghost when
the Son of God humbled himself to take this body. And this is so amazing. When He took this body, He's
going to be in this body throughout eternity. He took upon the limitations
of a body willingly for the glory of His Father and for the good
of His people, and He's still in a body. A body hast thou prepared
me. He has a heart that pumps blood
and lungs that heave air. He's got a The body of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now in this body, he kept God's
law. Somebody had, some human being
had to keep the law of God. He did it. In his body, and this
is something that is just painful, yet glorious to think about.
In his body, he bore my sins. In his own body. on the tree. Every sin that I've ever committed,
all the sins of all of God's elect, he bore those sins in
his own body on the tree. And he experienced everything
about those sins with the exception of the commission of them. He
never committed sin, but oh, this holy body bearing the sins
of his people. In his body, he died. I think of Joseph of Arimathea
and Nicodemus taking down that dead body from the cross. And
I'm sure they were very careful the way they did that. And they,
you know, the Lord gave his son a rich man's burial. I mean,
it was a lavish barrel by Jewish standards and a dead body, the
body of the Lord was placed in that tomb. And that body that
never went through the process of decay lay in the tomb for
three days. And I love to think about this.
Obviously we can't see it, but all of a sudden he breathed. His heart began to pump. He opened
his eyes. He removed those grave clothes
and he walked out of that tomb. I suppose, I don't know whether
he willed the stone to roll away or whether an angel rolled it
away, but he walked out of that tomb. And that's the body, still with the scars of his death. That's the body who walked here
for 40 days and then ascended back to his father. That's the
body who is even now in heaven. The body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, a body hast thou prepared
me. Sacrifice and offering, that
one is not, but a body hast thou prepared me. And he repeats himself
in verse six and in burnt offering and Sacrifices for sin? Thou
hast had no pleasure. How many sacrifices? Millions
and millions of sacrifices for sin. Millions and millions of
slain bulls and goats and sheep. God got no pleasure in that.
That didn't do anything to satisfy God. Verse seven, then said I,
lo I come. And notice how he says, in the
volume of the book, it's written of me. Now, what is he talking
about when he's talking about the volume of the book? It's
written of me. It's been written. Well, it was written here in
Hebrews chapter 10. It was written in Psalm 40. But I really don't
think he's referring to the scriptures when he says, in the volume of
the book, it's written of me. Lo, I come to do thy will, O
God. You remember that book in Revelation
chapter 5? written on the front side and
the back side. Nothing could be added to it.
Nothing could be taken from it. There could be no alterations.
Sealed with seven seals in the hand of him that sits on the
throne. That the Lord Jesus Christ came
and took the book from him that sat on the throne. That's the
book he's talking about. the book of God's eternal decrees. Everything God purposed is in
this book. And that's what the Lord is referring
to, I believe, when he says, lo, I come in the volume of the
book. It's written of me. I delight
to do thy will. Oh God. Now what did he come
to do? I come to do thy will. Now I've talked some about the
body of Christ. Now I want to talk some about
the will of God. He said, I come to do thy will. Now don't miss this. God, his
father was the one that prepared the body for him. When he came,
he came doing the father's will, but you know something about
the father's will, the father's will, and the son's will are
one. The father's will, the son's
will, and the spirit's will are one. There are three distinct
persons, one God in three distinct persons with one will. Now that's not complicated. It's
sublime. It's beyond understanding, but
it's not complicated. These three are one. I love it when the Lord said,
my father worketh hitherto and I work what he does. I do what
he wills. I will. And the Lord said, lo,
I come in the volume of the book. It's written of me to do thy
will. Oh God. Now God's a person. with
a consciousness and a will. And Christ said, lo, I come to
do thy will. Now I want you to listen to what
I'm going to try to say as carefully as you can because this is very
important for us to understand if we're going to understand
what God's will is. Now, for me to understand the
will of God, I'm going to have to understand His will of command
and His will of decree. Now, that is an important distinction. Both are equally true. And if
you don't understand the one, you don't understand the other.
Both of these are true. His will of command and His will
of decree. His will of command. Well, it
could be summarized in the Ten Commandments. I mean, there are
other things you could say, but I think the best example of His
will of command is the Ten Commandments. The thou shalt and the thou shalt
not. That is God's will of command. God's holy law. Now, when we disobey His commandments,
we are not doing His will. Amen? When we disobey His commandment,
we are not doing His will. Sin, in any form, is breaking
His commandment. Now, I cannot say God's in control
of everything. Therefore, it was His will for
me to commit that sin. I can't say that. God is in control
of everything. He is completely sovereign over
the free and uncoerced actions of men. But I can never say,
well, it was God's will for me to commit that sin. That's why
I committed it. It was God's will for that to take place.
He's sovereign. You can't talk like that. That's
exactly what Paul addressed in Romans chapter 9 when he talked
about that fellow who said, Well, why does he yet find fault for
who has resisted his will? If he's in control of me, if
he can harden my heart, how can he hold me responsible? Who has
resisted his will? I love Paul's answer, nay, but
old man, who are you to reply against God? He doesn't try to
philosophize with him. He doesn't try to figure it out
logically. He said, who are you to call into question anything
God does? God has a will of command. And anytime I sin, I break that
will of command, and I'm never permitted to say, well, it was
God's will for me to commit that sin. My sin is my fault, and
I don't lay it at God's feet. Amen? His will of decree is found in
the content of that book in Revelation chapter five, It's all that God
purposed and decreed in eternity. The Lord said, I declare the
end from the beginning and from ancient times, the things that
are not yet done saying my counsel shall stand and I will do all
my pleasure. I have spoken it, I will bring
it to pass, I have purposed it, I will also do it. Everything
that happens is God's will of decree. There's nothing that
takes place outside of God's will of decree. And somebody
says, well, how do you bring those two things together? I
don't know. And as a matter of fact, I'm
not gonna try to. I know they're both so. And as far as somebody
says, well, I can't see the logic of it. Well, it's scriptural,
isn't it? God's will of command, God's
will of decree. Everything that takes place is
God's will being done. Somebody says, I just wanna know
God's will for my life. Man, you're up to your neck in
it. Everything that's taken place with you is God's will. God's
sovereign will. Now, let me make these statements
with regard to God's will of command and God's will of decree. God's will of command is never
done, and God's will of decree is always
done. Now, what do I mean by that?
God's will of command is never done. Well, let's just take the
10 commandments. And I know this is so with regard to me. I've not kept one commandment
one time. I've not. I remember there was
a time that I thought I did, but I know better now. I mean,
even when I tell the truth, I'm telling it in such a way to make
myself look better. Everything I do, sin is in it.
It doesn't matter what it is. This sermon I'm preparing, if
God judged me for it, this sermon I'm trying to preach, he'd send
me to hell. I know that there's sin in everything I do. I've
never loved God with all my heart and soul and strength. I've never
loved my neighbors myself. You know, those are the two great
commandments, and that means I'm in a continual condition
of breaking the two great commandments. I've put everything before God. I've made false made idols of things. I have
failed to have the proper reverence for his name. I failed to rest.
I've been a murderer. I am a murderer. I'm a thief. I'm a liar. I'm an adulterer. I'm a covetous man. I've failed
to, I've not kept one commandment one single time. God's will of command is always
broken. I love what Paul said in Romans
chapter seven, because when I'm talking about the law of God,
I love what Paul said. He said, I delight in the law
of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members
warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin, which is in my members. Now, that's scripture, and that's my experience. God's
will of command is never kept. And if somebody claims to have
kept one commandment one time, they only prove by that they
have no idea what the commands of God are. They have no idea
of the holiness of God. They have no idea of their own
sinfulness. God's will of command has never
been kept one time, except by one man, the Lord Jesus Christ. He honored God's law completely. The will of God's decree is always
kept. In Daniel chapter four, verses
34 and 35, we read, he doeth according to his will in the
armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. Everything
that happens down here is his will being done. He brings good
out of evil, but it's all his will being done. And none can
stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? I love when Peter was preaching
on the day of Pentecost. He said, him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. There's
God's will of decree. And here's his will of command.
You have taken and with wicked hands have crucified and slain. For the truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done." That's talking about the cross. Now, God's will is absolute. That means it's always done.
When we talk about His will decree, it's always done. It's eternal,
which means it's necessarily immutable. It's efficacious,
it can't be thwarted. It's causeless. What that means
is God never responds or reacts to me or you. The only cause
of His will is His will. His will is causeless, it's free. He always acts exactly according
to His will because that's who He is. I love it when they said,
David, where's your God? He said, our God is in the heavens.
He didn't say He will do whatever He pleases. It says He hath done
whatsoever He hath pleased. Now His will is done in creation. God created the heavens and the
earth with no help. It was an act of His will. His
will is done in Providence. Everything that happens is His
will being done. You can't take one act and say,
that's not His will being done. I've heard preachers say, well,
He's not concerned about if you burn your dinner or something
like that. That's the little things. If you burn your dinner,
His will is done. His will is always done. And His will is done in salvation,
and the leper understood that. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. Now, God's will is the only way
I can be saved is if He wills my salvation. Now, there are
three responses to that. Three responses. One, who cares? apathy and indifference. It's just not important to me.
Let me say this, if that's your attitude about you're a fool, you're a fool. The second response
is hatred. We will not have this man reign
over us. I don't like this. I don't like
its implications. I don't like this God. Hatred.
And the third response is I love this. I love this. I don't want it to be any other
way. I know the only hope I have of being saved is if he sovereignly
wills my salvation. Then said he, verse seven, lo,
I come in the volume of the book, it is written of me to do thy
will, O God. Verse eight, above, when he said
sacrifice and offering and burn offerings and offerings for sin,
thou wouldest not, neither had pleasure therein, which are offered
by the law, it never was the Lord's intention to save by these
things. But look in verse nine, then said he, lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second. I love it when the Lord said,
I came down from heaven. I love to think of his audience at this
time. If I said to you, I came down from heaven, you'd think,
you're crazy. Well, I'm sure they thought that
about the Lord too. He said, I came down from heaven. Not
to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this
is the Father's will which sent me, that of all which he hath
given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the
last day. He says, lo, I come to do thy
will, O God. He taketh away the first that
he may establish the second." Now, I had never looked these
words up before, but you see that word taketh away? It's the
word that is generally translated to kill, to slay, to put to death. He came to put to death, to slay,
to kill that first covenant. When He died, He put that covenant
to death. The death of death. All that
covenant does is kill. Death was put to death when Christ
died. He came to take that covenant
and kill it that the glorious new covenant might be established
forever. Now what about somebody who's
trying to always bring up that old covenant? You have any idea
how crazy that is? How mad it is? How insane it
is? The Lord came to kill it. That He might establish that
second covenant, the covenant of grace, the gospel, the New
Testament. Now look in verse 10, this is
the last verse we'll look at. By the which will. What will? Which will? God's will. Christ said, I came to do thy
will, by that will. By the witch will, we are sanctified. And here's salvation. The body
of Christ, the will of God, and salvation. If there's a word
that would most comprehensively describe God's salvation, it
would be the word sanctification. sanctified, holy, set apart. Now, he says, by the witch will
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. Now, the first thing that comes
to my mind when I consider this glorious verse is who is meant
by the which will we are sanctified? Who is meant by the we? And it's
dishonest to not find out what the scripture means by this.
If I just assume it must be me, I'm not being honest with the
scripture. I'm just trying to force things on it that are not
there. Who is the we? by which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Now, the we is the elect. The we is the same ones when
our Lord said in Hebrews chapter 2, 11, both he that sanctifies
and they that are sanctified are all of one. The we is everybody
who had their sin purged. But this man, after he'd offered
this one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of
God when he by himself purged our sins. This is talking about
the elect of God. This is talking about everybody
that Christ died for. This is talking about all who
believe. If I don't see that and if I
look at it in a universal way, I make it meaningless. If he can sanctify somebody and
they wind up in hell anyway, his work of grace is of no value.
So by the which will we are sanctified. Now that word sanctified, remember
I said that that is the word that most comprehensively describes
God's salvation. It means to take something common
and ordinary and set it apart for holy purposes. Election. according as He hath
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy." And without blame before Him. Look at the Tenth verse again,
by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. Now, that once for all lets us
know that this is in the perfect tense. Through his death on Calvary's
tree, everybody he died for are perfectly and completely sanctified
once for all. It doesn't know any degrees.
Most religious people believe in what they call progressive
sanctification. You, through grace, through the
use of means, through prayer, through Bible study, through
being in the worship service, you become progressively more
holy and less sinful. There is not a shred of truth
to that. It's evil. It's a denial of the gospel.
Let me show you how. In Galatians chapter 2, and I
make no apologies for saying that, that's a denial of the
gospel. That's a denial of the gospel message. The gospel message
is that Christ is all. that he takes away the first,
that he may establish the second, that he perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Now, in Galatians chapter two,
we have the story of Peter. You're familiar with it. He is
eating at a Gentile table, fellowship with the Gentiles. Some fellows
from Jerusalem come up to Antioch, and he knows they will disapprove
of him being with the Gentiles. So when he sees them without
a word said, he gets up, he moves tables, and he sits down with
the Jews. He didn't even say anything.
And remember, this is an apostle. This is Peter. If he could do
this, don't think you couldn't do it. What does Paul do? He rebuked him publicly in front
of everybody. Can you imagine how humiliating
that would have been to Peter? Can you imagine what, I mean,
Paul was a pretty intense guy, wasn't he? To be able to do this,
but he rebuked him publicly that the truth of the gospel might
remain. If he didn't say anything, guess
what? The truth of the gospel is not remaining. You see, Peter's
action said, salvation is by grace, but you're more pleasing
to God. Isn't that what progressive sanctification
is? You become more pleasing to God by being over here with
the Jews. And Paul rebuked him publicly
for that, that the truth of the gospel might remain. Now, this
scripture tells us that by one offering, he hath perfected forever. Perfected forever, perfect tense,
perfectly completed, never to be repeated. It can't be improved. It knows no degrees. It doesn't
become progressively better or worse, you're completing Christ.
Christ is all. All God requires of you, he looks
to his son for. And that's what you rest in.
I don't want anything else. Sanctified by the Spirit of God.
We've talked about sanctified by the Father in election, sanctified
by the Son in redemption, where I'm declared to be holy by God
Himself. Made holy in regeneration when you're given a new nature,
a holy nature that was not there before. Now you grow in grace. Someone says, don't we grow in
grace? Of course you do. But you don't grow in holiness. That's
a denial of what holiness is in the first place. by the which
will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. Now, that body that his father
prepared him, that body that was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
that body that he lived in for 33 years and perfectly kept God's
holy law and pleased his father, that body that bore our sins
when he was nailed to the tree, that body that died, that body
that was placed in the tomb, that body that was raised from
the dead, that body that walked out of the tomb, yet still with
the wounds he had. There's a scripture in Philippians
3 that says that through him, through him making
intercession. That's what he's doing in his
body right now, ruling and reigning and making intercession. But
that body, we will be fashioned after when he changes our vile
bodies to fashion it like unto his glorious body. And there'll be one difference
between his body and ours, the scars. And while in heaven, you won't
have any scars. Not inwardly or outwardly. And
you won't even remember what it's like to be a sinner. The
former things are passed away. But you'll look at his body.
You'll look at the scars in his body and you will know the only
reason you're there is because of him. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that your
son took the body that you prepared for him and came and perfectly pleased
you and perfectly put away the sins of all your people And that
body is now in your very presence, seated in royal splendor, making
intercession for us. And Lord, to think that we are
predestinated to be conformed to his image, we're so thankful. Lord, take this message and bless
it for your glory and for our good. In Christ's name we pray,
amen.