SERMON OUTLINE:
(1). A Perfect Body (vs 5).
(2). A Perfect Sacrifice (vs 5-9).
(3). A Perfect Desire (vs 7-9).
(4). A Perfect Conclusion (vs 11-12).
SERMON BODY:
Question:
• Did Santa bring you the present you wanted?
• How many of you received a book as a gift?
Ill:
• One popular book given as a gift this year would have been,
• ‘The Body: A Guide for Occupants’ by Bill Bryson.
• It is a great read;
• You will not agree with many of his conclusions,
• Because Bill Bryson is an unashamed evolutionist,
• But the book is full, and I mean full of fascinating facts.
• Without realising it, he proves on almost every page that the body has a designer.
• Intelligent design is written all though the human body.
I used to use the old illustration by C.H. Dodd:
• The human body contains;
• Chalk for 2 sticks.
• Fat for 7 bars of soap.
• Iron to make a 3inch nail.
• Sugar for 7 cups of tea.
• Phosphorus to make 2,200 matches.
• Lime to whitewash a hen house.
• Sulphur to rid a dog of flees.
• Water to fill 6 buckets.
• Magnesium for one dose of salts.
• Potash to explode a toy crane.
• Lead to make 200 pencils".
• If you add all the chemicals together;
• Then the chemicals found in the human body are worth about £15.
But think again:
• Bill in his book gives us a breakdown and the accurate price of human ingredients;
• As you might expect, inflation has struck again!
• To round it all up; 96 thousand, five hundred and fifty pounds.
• And in the book, you get the chemical breakdown.
"We are made of seven billion billion billion atoms, the constituent elements of which would cost £96,546.79 on the open market (excluding VAT)."
• TRANSITION: In his book, ‘The human body’,
• Every chapter of this book is proof upon proof upon proof that we had a designer!
• “We are fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139 verse 14)
In our final study in this Christmas series called; ‘The God Who Appeared’
• We are reminding ourselves again;
• Of why Jesus came, why he took on a human body,
• Why he became part of his creation!
Ill:
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/hmUKdIc0y9I
• Facts You Didn't Know About The Human Body
(1). A Perfect Body (vs 5).
ill:
• And like you and I every 24 hours
• His body and your heart beats 103689 times
• (one hundred and three thousand, six hundred and eighty-nine)
• His body and your blood travels 168,000,000 miles
• His body and you breathe 23040 times
• His body and you inhale 438 cubic feet of air
• His body and you eat 3. 25 pounds of food
• His body and you drink 2. 9 quarts of liquids
• His body and you lose 7/8 pounds of waste
• His body and you speak 4800 words, including some unnecessary ones
• His body and you move 750 muscles
• His body and your nails grow. 000046 inch
• His body and your hair grows, 0.35 millimetres.
• His body and you exercise 7,000,000 (seven million) brain cells
• That takes place in an average human body every 24 hours.
Notice:
• Verse 5 links this verse to the Christmas narrative;
• “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me;
Ill:
• Over this Christmas period we have reminded ourselves that:
• “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us”
• The ‘Incarnation’, the word is derived from the Latin ‘in’ and ‘caro’ (flesh),
• Meaning, ‘clothed in flesh’, the act of assuming flesh.
• On Boxing Day in the Curley household, we enjoyed Chilli Con Carne for dinner.
• Which is Spanish and translated means, ‘Chilli with Flesh, Chilli with Meat’.
• “The Word became ‘Con Carne’” with ‘flesh’ with ‘meat’
• In other words, Jesus had a real body, he was not a spirit creature,
• But was fully human as well as being fully divine!
And don’t miss this:
• This Book of Hebrews (and the Bible clearly teaches);
• That God prepared his Son a body, specifically for the purpose of sacrificing it
• In fact:
• Without a body: no last supper, no communion memorial,
• Without a body: Judas could not have betrayed him with a kiss.
• Without a body: no soldier could have punched him or whipped him,
• Without a body: no soldier could have put a purple robe on him,
• Without a body: no soldier could have placed a crown of thorns on his head,
• Without a body: no soldier could have plucked the beard from his face.
• Without a body: he could not have carried his own cross.
• Without a body: no nails and spear would have pieced him!
• Without a body: no salvation!
• "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree,
• (1 Peter chapter 2 verse 24)
(2). A Perfect Sacrifice (vs 5-9).
“Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me;
6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased.
7 Then I said, 'Here I am--it is written about me in the scroll--I have come to do your will, O God.'
8 First he said, Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them (although the law required them to be made).
9 Then he said, Here I am, I have come to do your will. He sets aside the first to establish the second.”
ill:
• You know those trampoline-filled warehouses (Flip Out),
• My friend took his daughter to one and halfway through their time.
• She fell and felt her arm pop.
• She was in a lot of pain and so a trip to the hospital was required.
• The X-ray diagnosis was trampoline-induced fractured elbow.
• An X-ray machine is helpful, you see, but it’s got limits.
• It does a great job revealing the problem,
• But X-rays are powerless to do anything to fix it.
• TRANSITION: The Old Testament law is like an X-ray;
• It shows us how spiritually broken our heart is,
• But it is powerless to fix it.
• Trying to use the law to fix our busted hearts.
• Is the same as trying to use an X-ray to fix a broken bone.
• The purpose of the law is not primarily to correct sin, but to reveal sin.
• That is what the writer to the Hebrews is saying;
• Animal sacrifice is unable to cure a person of their sin,
• But there is a cure, and that cure is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ,
• His sacrifice brings a permanent cure for the problem of sin.
• The writer of this letter develops his argument by quoting Psalm 40 verses 6-8.
(3). A Perfect Desire (vs 7-9).
“Then I said, 'Here I am--it is written about me in the scroll--I have come to do your will, O God.'
8 First he said, Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them (although the law required them to be made).
9 Then he said, Here I am, I have come to do your will. He sets aside the first to establish the second.”
The problem with animal sacrifice was that there was no will involved:
• In fact, it was against the will of the animal to be killed.
• Even the dumbest of animals wants to live.
• So, when a sacrifice was made;
• The animal would resist or at best submit in ignorance.
• By contrast; with Jesus, a will, an attitude, a desire, a determination was involved,
• Jesus had a choice; he had a will!
• And he submitted his will in obedience to God.
Note:
• You might be surprised to know,
• That the phrase “A body you prepared for me” (vs 5);
• Is not actually found in the original quotation of Psalm 40 verse 6.
• Which reads:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced; burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require”.
Question: So, where did the writer of this letter get his ‘extra’ information from?
Answer:
• He was quoting from the Septuagint,
• Which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament.
Ill:
• In New Testament times Hebrew was a dead language;
• It was ecclesiastical language used in the world of religion.
• Like what happened in our country,
• The Church used Latin throughout the Middle Ages.
• The ordinary people of Jesus day spoke Aramaic.
• That was the common language of the community.
• But when it came to books, then Greek was the language literature,
• (ill: English books all over the world).
• So, wherever you went in the world you found Greek books.
• So, the Old Testament was translated from Hebrew into Greek.
• Virtually all New Testament letters and the book of Acts,
• Whenever the writer or speaker quotes the Old Testament,
• They quote from the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament).
The phrase translated as "pierced ears” or “opened ears":
• Signified a readiness to hear and obey the will of God.
• Jesus often used a similar expression “He who has ears to hear, let him hear”.
• Both Psalm 40 & Jesus are using expressions;
• Which are saying; “Be obedient to what God tells you.”
• And the meaning in the quote from the Septuagint means the same;
• What both quotations are saying:
• Psalm 40 verse 6: “You unplugged my ears so that everything I hear I must obey”
• Hebrews 10 verse 9: “You gave me in a body and with my body I will obey your will”
• The point that the writer is making is;
• No amount of sacrifices could substitute for obedience.
Ill:
• When we think of obedience, we think of doing what one is instructed to do.
• In speaking to our children, we may say,
• "Will you please obey me and do what you are told?"
• What we mean is, "Please carry out my instructions."
• Often our children will respond with the word, "Why?"
• And so many of us parents reply with; “Because I told you too!”
• True obedience is not just doing what you are told,
• Obedience is an attitude of heart toward a higher authority.
• Obedience requires a trust in the character and wisdom of the One in authority.
• “So, because you ask God, I gladly do it to please you!”
Notice: As a result of his obedience verse 10 says:
• N.I.V: “We have been made holy”
• K.J.B: “We are sanctified”.
• Amplified: “We have been made holy (consecrated and sanctified)”
• The word means: “Set apart for its intended purpose”.
The Law could never do those things:
• The Law required that a person be clean before God.
• In the Old Testament under the old Covenant.
• Certain things, people and days were purified;
• Not just so that they would be clean, but ‘clean’ for God’s use.
• This was an often repeated, never ending process;
• BUT! Under the New Covenant every Christian is set apart finally and completely.
(4). A Perfect Conclusion (vs 11-12).
11” Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.”
• Notice the contrast in those verses:
• The priests stand to offer their sacrifices;
• Christ sits at the right hand of God.
• ill: The earthly priests are in the position of a servant;
• ill: Jesus is in the position of a monarch.
• ill: The priests are busy at work in the temple “day after day”.
• ill: But Jesus is the King gone home, his task accomplished, and his victory won.
When Jesus Christ entered our world, he came with a purpose:
• He shows that He was a man on a mission.
• He had a purpose, which He intentionally fulfilled.
• Even at a young age, (Luke chapter 2 verse 49) Jesus knew that.
• N.I.V.: He “had to be in my Father’s house?”
• K.J.B.: He “must be about [His] Father’s business”
• In the last days of His earthly life, Jesus “resolutely set out for Jerusalem,”
• (Luke chapter 9 verse 51)
• Where He knew when he reached there, he would be killed
• The fundamental mission of Christ’s time on earth;
• Was to fulfil God’s plan of saving the lost.
• His sacrifice was perfect, eternal, once and for all!
• The evidence of that is he is now glorified in heaven – job done!
Ill:
• Off the coast of South China there was once built a massive cathedral.
• On the top of it was a huge cross that towered many feet into the air;
• And could be seen from that South China Bay for several miles.
• A typhoon came and destroyed the cathedral
• Leaving only that mighty cross towering in the air.
• Sir John Bowring was once marooned in the South China Sea;
• Having been in a shipwreck.
• While he was being pickled in that water off the coast,
• He could look up and see that mighty cross as it towered in the air.
• The sight of the cross encouraged him because he knew he was near land.
• To him that cross stood for his deliverance, his safety, and his salvation.
• Sometime later he wrote the words to the great hymn:
• “In the cross of Christ I glory, towering o’er the wrecks of time.”
• Towering over all the faults and the failures of mankind,
• Above all the hurt, sin and evil things that are taking place in our world today,
• Towering high above us all is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SERMON AUDIO:
https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=K090k86StPzTeuzNGm4QQf6GNzEuFk2J
