Topic: Sunday Sermon Series – The Psalms of Christmas
Title: Psalm 40- The Perfect Present! (Part 1)
Text: Psalm 40
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
2 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.
3 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.
4 Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
5 Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.
6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,
8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest.
10 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.
11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.
12 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.
13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O Lord, make haste to help me.
14 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.
15 Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha.
16 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified.
17 But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.
Intro: Last Sunday I mentioned that gift giving is a big part of the Christmas celebration as you’ll recall, I mentioned that retailers are literally banking on it! In their attempt to convince shoppers to purchase from their company some advertisers are promoting their products under this guise:
Gift Ideas – The Perfect Christmas Gift For Her or Him!
And the array of gift suggestions are almost to numerous to name!
Anyway the claim of a perfect gift is quite presumptive! After all the world perfect means:
Perfect
1. Having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be.
2. Excellent, absolute, complete beyond practical or theoretical improvement.
Anyway, I would like to suggest that the Psalm we just read has “hidden” within it – THE PERFECT PRESENT, THE PERFECT GIFT FOR ALL MEN, AND WOMAN, ANYWHERE, AND WHOEVER THEY MAY BE!
That is why – I’ve entitled today’s message….
Psalm 40 – A Portrait of the Perfect Present!
My proposition from this scripture text is…
A study of Psalm 40 will present to us the portrait of the absolutely, perfect gift that is available to all!!
Let’s begin by looking at first of all..
I. The Presenter of the Gift?
A) Person/paper that it is wrapped up in?
1. David.
Psalm 40 (KJV) For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
V1 I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
B) Perspective of this Psalm?
1. Content of the Psalm?
a) David?
b) God’s man!
Acts 13:22 After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.- NIV
c) He was so much so that He made:
2. Covenant with David:
2 Samuel 7:4 But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying: 5 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says-NIV
2 Samuel 7:12 When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14a I will be his father, and he will be my son…-NIV
a) Obviously a reference to Christ!
i. Though this 40th Psalm is written in the first person and appropriately attributed to David – it has much to do with Christ!
C) Proposition regarding this Psalm.
1. Correlation between David and Christ/Messiah
a) He [Christ/Messiah] is sometimes referred to as the branch of David:
Jeremiah 23:5 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.
b) Descendant of David
Psalm 132: 11 The Lord swore an oath to David, a sure oath he will not revoke: One of your own descendants I will place on your throne.
c) Seed of David
Psalm 89:3 “I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David:
4 ‘Your seed I will establish forever, And build up your throne to all generations.’ ” Selah
d) Son of David
Matthew 15:22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”
Matthew 21: 15 But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant.
e) SOMETIMES HE IS SIMPLY REFERRED TO AS DAVID!
Ezekiel 34: 23 I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. 24 I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the Lord have spoken.
Ezekiel 37: 24 “David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. 25 Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children’s children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever.
D) Point?
1. When David wrote the Messianic Psalms, he was inspired by the Holy Spirit who is also called The Spirit of Christ.
2 Peter 1:21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
2. So much so that, in these Messianic Psalms, Christ by His Spirit was speaking in and through David.
1 Peter 1: 10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow
Revelation 19:10b For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
3. Is this Psalm Purely Messianic?
Brandon D. Crowe -Associate Professor of New Testament-Westminster Theological Seminary- Given the Spirit-inspired eschatology of the OT, as part of God’s unified and unfolding work of redemption, all psalms are messianic because they anticipate, in various ways, God’s ultimate salvation that comes through his anointed one; we can also say, however, that some psalms have a heightened sense of messianic focus and anticipation
a) And I believe this one does:
D) Proof:
1. In the book of Hebrews, the writer records that Jesus himself spoke directly at least 3 verses of this Psalm, which we will look at:
E) Portraits of Christ’s earthly life are captured in verses 1 -5:
Psalm 40:1a I waited patiently for the Lord;
1. Was not Christ’s life characterized by waiting?
John 2:1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”4 “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.
John 7: 3 Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him. 6 Therefore Jesus told them, “My time is not yet here; for you any time will do.
Psalm 40:1b and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
2. This also true of Jesus - Crying?
Hebrews 5: 7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
Psalm 40:2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay,
3. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter quoted this Messianic Psalm penned by David:
Psalm 16: 9 No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice. My body rests in safety.
10 For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave. -NLT
Acts 2: 22 “People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know. 23 But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him. 24 But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip. 25 King David said this about him:
‘I see that the Lord is always with me.
I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.
26 No wonder my heart is glad,
and my tongue shouts his praises!
My body rests in hope.
27 For you will not leave my soul among the dead
or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.
28 You have shown me the way of life,
and you will fill me with the joy of your presence.’ – NLT
Psalm 40:2b and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
4. The Hebrew word for "Rock" indicates a firmness, stability, faithfulness, something immovable!
Psalm 29:10 The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD is enthroned as King forever.
Joseph Excell -Our blessed Lord found when He was suffering for us that everything appeared to give way beneath Him. But He was brought up like Jonah was from the deeps. And He was set “on a rock.”
John Gill – The rock is on Mount Zion in heaven, where he was carried up after his resurrection; where he will remain until his second coming, being set down at the right hand of God, in a most stable, firm, and unalterable state,
Psalm 40:3a And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God:
5. Could that refer to Jesus?
a) Yes!
Hebrews 2: 9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying,“I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” -ESV
Psalm 40:3c many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.
John Gill - Great numbers of the human race shall be made acquainted with the occasion which there was for such a song.
Revelation 5: 9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne) and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”
Psalm 40:4a Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust,
Hebrews 2:12b Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. 12 He says,“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters; in the assembly I will sing your praises.” 13 And again, “I will put my trust in him.”
Romans 10:17 As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.-NLT
Psalm 40:4b and respecteth not the proud,
6. True of Jesus?
Luke 1: 46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; -ESV
Psalm 40:4C nor such as turn aside to lies.
John 3:3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
John 6:47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes [In Me] has eternal life.
John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
E) Point?
1. The proof should prompt in us a PRAISE!
Psalm 40:5a Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee:
Psalms 139:17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
John Trapp-The thoughts of thy wisdom, power, and goodness, clearly shining in these wondrous works of thine; it does my heart good to think and speak of them. How great is the sum of them. I cannot count them, much less comprehend them.
Psalm 40:5b if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.
Ok now that we looked at…
John Gill – The "works" here said to be done, and to be "many" and "wonderful", are not the creation of the world, the dividing of the sea, and feeding the people of Israel forty years in the wilderness, but the incarnation of Christ, the redemption by him, the resurrection of him from the dead; the regeneration and conversion, and the preservation of the saints from the evil of the world, for those who believe in him!
Ok now let look at….
II. The Purpose of the Gift!
Which really shows why it is perfect!
A) Purpose?
Psalm 40:6a Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire;
1. Didn’t God order/ordain them? Yes!
a) Exodus - each day:
Exodus 29:36 Sacrifice a bull each day as a sin offering to make atonement. Purify the altar by making atonement for it, and anoint it to consecrate it.
b) Leviticus - A day: Day of Atonement
Leviticus 16: 6 “Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household.
i. For himself and household
ii. For the nation
Leviticus 16: 5 “He shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and take its blood behind the curtain and do with it as he did with the bull’s blood: He shall sprinkle it on the atonement cover and in front of it. 16 In this way he will make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been.
Leviticus 16: 30 because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins
a. Atonement –?????? -kaphar
i) To cover
ii) To coat or cover with pitch
iii) To pacify
iv) To purge, appease
Psalm 40:6b burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
B) Point?
1. These things are not what God “desires" or “requires!”
Psalm 40:6a Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire;
Psalm 40:6b burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
3. They covered, and pacified for a time, but they also were a portrait of only thing and one who could satisfy God!
C) Proof?
1. Story of Saul:
1 Samuel 15:1 Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord. 2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. 3 Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”
1 Samuel 15:7 Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt. 8 He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. 9 But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.
1 Samuel 15:13 When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.” 14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?” 15 Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.”
1 Samuel 15: 22 But Samuel replied:
“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
he has rejected you as king.”
b) David discovered this!
Psalm 51:16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
Psalm 50: 9 I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens,
10 for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.
c) God through Isaiah announced this!
Isaiah 1: 11 “The multitude of your sacrifices—
what are they to me?” says the Lord.
“I have more than enough of burnt offerings,
of rams and the fat of fattened animals;
I have no pleasure
in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
12 When you come to appear before me,
who has asked this of you,
this trampling of my courts?
13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
Your incense is detestable to me.
d) Micah then asks:
Micah 6: 6 With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7a Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Micah 6:7b Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
i. GOD FORBID!
Leviticus 18: 21 “‘Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molek, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.
D) Preference of God?
1 Samuel 15: 22 But Samuel replied:
“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
1. Obedience!
2. PERFECT OBEDIENCE!!
James 2: 10 For whosoever keeps the Law [as a] whole but stumbles and offends in one [single instance] has become guilty of [breaking] all of it. – AMPC
1 John 3:4 4 Everyone who commits (practices) sin is guilty of lawlessness; for [that is what] sin is, lawlessness (the breaking, violating of God’s law by transgression or neglect—being unrestrained and unregulated by His commands and His will). -AMPC
E) Point?
1. THE LAW OF MOSES WAS GIVEN TO SHOW US WHAT “WRETCHED SINNERS” WE REALLY ARE!
Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. -ESV
Romans 3: 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
Romans 7:7b, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
2. BUT I AM NOT HOLY, RIGHTEOUS AND GOOD, I AM A WRETCH!
Romans 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
3. THE PERFECT PRESENT!!!
Romans 7:25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
F) Perspective – we really need to fully appreciate and appropriate the Gift!!
1. God is love!
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
1 John 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
2. God is light!!
1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
1 John 1:6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. -ESV
a) The message is that God is completely, unreservedly, absolutely holy, with no admixture of sin, no taint of iniquity, and no hint of injustice.
3. God is lawful!
a) Lawful (lo'-fool) He acts according to that which is “righteous" or "just" or authorized by the law.
b) He punishes the wicked and rewards the righteous.
Psalms 145:17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does.
Exodus 34:7b He does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
2 Thessalonians 1:6a God is just
c) Which means He will punish every sin!
d) When Adam and Eve sinned in Genesis 3, His justice could not overlook it.
e) Their sin does not seem so great to us, but it did to God!
f) If He is portrayed as anything in the Bible – He is portrayed as a JUDGE!
g) I counted approximately 100 bible verses that refer to this in some way!
Psalm 7:11 God is a righteous judge, a God who displays his wrath every day.
Psalm 50:6 And the heavens declare His righteousness, For God Himself is judge. Selah.
Psalm 75:7 But God is the Judge; He puts down one and exalts another.
Psalm 82:8 Rise up, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are your inheritance.
Psalm 96:13 Let all creation rejoice before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness
Psalm 110:6 He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.
Act 17:31a For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice
Ecclesiastes 12: 13 Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the duty of all mankind.
14 For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.
h) Also the scripture reminds us that:
Romans 6:23a For the wages of sin is death
Eze 18:20a The soul who sins shall die.
i) We are in a major:
F) PREDICAMENT!
Arthur Pink - It is scarcely surprising that far less has been written upon the justice of God—than upon some of the other Divine perfections
Arthur Pink - When the human mind is focused upon the ineffable purity of God and His unchanging righteousness, it appears to fallen creatures that He no longer smiles—but frowns upon his works. That easy, peaceable disposition—so pleasing to our hearts, so soothing when we feel the stirrings of conscience—in which we contemplate God while considering His goodness alone, gives place to far sterner aspects, and we are made to tremble when He is also seen as an offended Ruler and Judge.
Arthur Pink - Guilty sinners have no desire to cultivate a closer acquaintance with One who is "of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity" (Hab. 1:13), and whose wrath is "revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men" (Romans 1:18). Such a view is terrifying, and they would readily flee to the most distant place, if they could escape His solemn presence.
j) Yet -there is a perfect gift provided for that fear!
Let’s look at…
III. The PERFECTION of the Gift!
Psalm 40:6a Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire;
Psalm 40:6c burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
Psalm 40:6b mine ears hast thou opened:
Psalm 40:6b You have dug out two ears for me -GWT
Psalm 40:6b but you have pierced the ears for me; (Aramaic Bible in Plain English)
A) Picture of?
1. Slave/ servant in OT times.
Exodus 21:1 “These are the laws you are to set before them: 2 “If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything. 3 If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free. 5 “But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’ 6 then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life. -NIV
a) Pierced ears are a portrait of ownership, and loving obedience and subservience to the master!
And then the Psalmist writes in the Greek translation of the Hebrew text:
Psalm 40:6 Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not; but a body hast thou prepared me: whole-burnt-offering and sacrifice for sin thou didst not require. (Septuagint Translation)
B) Point?
1. THE PERFECT GIFT – IS A PERFECT PERSON!
a) Jesus Christ!
i. This verse is quoted by Him in Hebrews 10:
Hebrews 10: 5a when Christ came into the world, he said: (Psalm 40:6)
“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.
7a Then I said,
Psalm 40:7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,
Hebrews 10:7b ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll
ii. In fact the entirety of scripture is about Him:
John 5:39 You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me,
Luke 24:27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
Luke 24:44 44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
Revelation 19:13He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.
Psalm 40:7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,—I have come to do your will, my God.’
iii. This is a conversation between the Father and the Son!
C) Prophecies?
1. Specifically what was the conversation between the Father and the Son?
Isaiah 50: 4 The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue,
to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.
5 The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears;
I have not been rebellious,
I have not turned away.
2. What did the Father ask of the Son, and what did the Son agree to?
Isaiah 50:
6 I offered my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
I did not hide my face
from mocking and spitting.
Psalm 40:8a I delight to do thy will, O my God:
1. Will of God?
Isaiah 53:10b It was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
a) To make Him the final, perfect, once for all - sin offering!
John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
b) Perfection of this Person?
Psalm 40:8b O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
Matthew 5: 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
1. Fulfilled it spiritually – He did not violate the spirit of the law!
a) He never broke it, He never sinned!
Hebrews 4:15b we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
b) Jesus was not tempted to see if He would fall.
c) He was tempted to show that He could not fall
John 14:30 The prince of this world comes, and has nothing in me
2. Fulfilled it ceremoniously!
3. Fulfilled it legally!
Hebrews 10:1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins.
Hebrews 10: 4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
4. Why?
Matthew Henry surmises that:
1. They were not of the same nature with us that sinned.
2. They were not of sufficient value to make satisfaction for the affronts done to the justice and government of God.
3. The beasts offered up under the law could not consent to put themselves in the sinner's room and place.
I conclude that:
a) An animal for a human – is not perfect justice!
b) An amoral creature for a moral creature – is not perfect justice!
c) An instinctive creature for an intelligent creature – is not perfect justice!
i. After all the law said:
Deuteronomy 19:21 Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot
d) Nor could a unrighteous sinner make payment for another unrighteous sinner – is not perfect justice!
e) IT WOULD REQUIRE SINLESS SACRIFICE TO PAY FOR A SINNERS TRANSGRESSIONS!
f) IT WOULD REQUIRE SINLESS BLOOD, TO PAY FOR A SINNERS BASENESS AND WICKEDNESS!
Hebrews 9:19 When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. 20 He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” 21 In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. 22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Hebrews 9: 11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.
Hebrews 9: 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
Hebrews 10:11 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,
Hebrews 10:14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
D) PERFECT FOREVER – PRAISE THE LORD!
E) POINT?
1. THE LIFE OF A THE PERFECT SACRIFICE GIVES A PERFECTING STANDING BEFORE GOD BY OUR FAITH IN HIM!
Isaiah 53:7b He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
Isaiah 53:5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:12b. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
F) Poem:
Mary had the little Lamb, who lived before His birth;
Self-existent Son of God, from Heaven He came to Earth. (Micah 5:2)
Mary had the little Lamb; see Him in yonder stall—
Virgin-born Son of God, to save man from the Fall. (Isaiah 7:14)
Mary had the little Lamb, obedient Son of God;
Everywhere the Father led, His feet were sure to trod. (John 6:38)
Mary had the little Lamb, crucified on the tree
The rejected Son of God, He died to set men free. (1 Peter 1:18)
Mary had the little Lamb—men placed Him in the grave,
Thinking they were done with Him; to death He was no slave! (Matthew 28:6)
Mary had the little Lamb, ascended now is He;
All work on Earth is ended, our Advocate ito be. (Hebrews 4:14-16)
Mary had the little Lamb—mystery to behold!
From the Lamb of Calvary, a Lion will unfold. (Revelation 5: 5,6)
When the Day Star comes again, of this be very sure:
It won’t be Lamb-like silence, but with the Lion’s roar. (Psalm 2:12; Revelation 19:11-16)
IV. Your Prayer for the Gift?
Psalm 40:11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.
Psalm 40:12 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.
Psalm 40:13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O Lord, make haste to help me.
Psalm 40:14 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.
Psalm 40:15 Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha.
Psalm 40:16 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified.
Psalm 40:17 But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.
I close with this appeal…
This Christmas you may receive many gifts. But even the shiniest, fastest, coolest, gifts will tarnish, break, or go out of style.
Salvation through Christ is an eternal gift that will never fade!
1 John 5:11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
