I would invite you to open with me to the New Testament and the epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 10, verses 5 through 7. That's Hebrews, chapter 10, verses 5 through 7, which can be found on page 1006 of the Church Bible. Before taking the plunge, let me first remind us where we're at. We are exploring Hebrews 10 as it quotes from and alludes to Psalm 40, verses six through eight, as our author treats the words of the psalmist King David, as that which the Son of God would take up and apply to himself as great David's greater son. In effect then, through what is said, we are given our Lord's own perspective on his first advent. and nativity on Christmas. It's a Christmas according to Christ, as seen through his eyes. In part one, we considered how he was born with a purpose, namely to die, a destiny he himself would decide on, which is so unique it puts him in a class by himself, which set us up for part two. in which we took in how Jesus Christ is uniquely able as our mediator, perfectly suited as the incarnate deity, the God-man, who could and would give Himself in atonement for the transgressions of His people, to meet sinners' every need, to be the Savior who would have what it takes to pull off salvation, offering a sacrifice powerful enough, valuable enough as God, and offering one as a representative of the human race, which owes everything to its Creator, as He would step in for the likes of us, discharging our duties, paying our debt. We now build on it all as we move on here to part three. So with that said, let's give our strict and undivided attention to it, to the reading of God's holy, life-giving word, inspired, infallible, and inerrant. Again, Hebrews chapter 10, verses 5 through 7. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book." Amen. Let the one who has ears to hear hear. what the Holy Spirit is saying. Brothers and sisters in Christ, when something has to be done, we often grin and bear it. We clench our teeth, we brace ourselves. Think of that trip to the dentist's office. and that root canal work, which must be done. Think of other necessities. They may be regular, routine chores. Take out the smelly trash. Cleaning the bathroom, including that toilet, which has become disgusting over a bit of time. We may do it because we have to, perhaps saying as much, oh, okay, I suppose I have to. but we end up doing it begrudgingly. We do it devoid of any alacrity, passion, or zeal. Well, sometimes we may get this impression from the Christmas story. It's possible. We could even, however mistakenly, draw that conclusion based on this mini-series of sermons thus far. Jesus was born in such a way that the tone was set. He would have to die at some point. Growing up to do so, to achieve God's will, to undergo death for the sake of his people, he had to if they were to be saved, if any were to be saved. And as God the Son, he had to become human. He had to be one person uniting two natures, a fully divine nature, and a full human nature to be equipped to die a death that would really take away sin and reconcile sinners like us with our maker. He had to if those like us were to be rescued. Of course, God didn't owe us any such thing, but if he were to reach out to us with salvation to give, all of this would be non-negotiable. There was no way around it. There was no sidestepping it. It had to be. Christ had to give Himself in these ways, laying His life down. But here's the thing, He not only had to, but He was glad to. That's our focus this morning, what we're going to hone in on. Covenant Presbyterian, it was what He happily signed up for. making this the bottom line. Because the God revealed in Jesus Christ was uniquely willing in His Son to become human and be our Savior, going on to do whatever it would take, we can without hesitation turn to Him, resting in His salvation, in His every promise to do us good, all for His glory. and His glory alone." I mean, if anything, to say He was willing is putting it mildly. You can tell as much from the tone of His words as they are presented to us. Hebrews 10 5-7, in particular verse 7, I have come to do your will, O God. There's no hint whatsoever that He's being driven to do something against His own will. There's no coercion. There is a choice being made, a willingness. There is no suggestion that He is merely bowing before something, bending the knee to some obligation being imposed upon Him. But if Hebrews 10, verses 5-7 are not enough for you, just go back to what it is drawing upon in Psalm 40. Even as we find it in the English Standard Version, translating the Hebrew, where the words, Our Redeemer, would take ownership of, say there in verse 8, I delight to do your will. Oh my God, your law is within my heart. Not just I'm committed to doing it, but it is my delight to do it. Christ's fervent dedication is also implied by the quotation from Psalm 40 verse 6, which the Greek translation picked up by the writer to the Hebrews paraphrases, saying that God not only dug out an ear, but created and prepared a whole human body for his son to assume as the Messiah. But if you go back again to the Hebrew, once more reflected in the ESV rendering of the psalm, that God-given listening ear is mentioned and it harkens back to how ears were opened and even pierced through. in accordance with a ritual described back in Exodus chapter 21 and Deuteronomy chapter 15. Hebrew slaves, if owned and employed like indentured servants, should pay off whatever they owe, they would then need to be emancipated and they would certainly need to be released whatever the circumstances, by the seventh year. The Israelites were to take this to heart, having been in bondage in Egypt themselves for centuries, but no more. Theirs was a new identity. However, the bondservant would have the option of choosing to stay. out of love for his or her master. And the bondservant's ear would be pierced and all would be hammered through it as a symbolic and permanent mark of willing servanthood. The ear would be ceremonially pinned to the door of the house as if to say, I'm crossing the threshold and making this household my own. with the ear itself emblematic of attending to and following the words and commands of the head of the household. With this imagery applied to himself, Jesus is the quintessential servant of God and of the family of his people, who freely consecrates himself to this cause. This spells comfort and security at Christmas. And at all times. Let's apply these things to our hearts and lives then, as we take a closer look, as we break it down at four things. First, a charge answered. A charge answered. Beloved, all kinds of distortions of Christianity arise when we lose sight of the willingness of the Son to go this far, to these great lengths. Sometimes it is taught that He was and is, in His eternal essence, subordinate to the Father. Even well-meaning theologians make this mistake, not thinking through the ramifications, it seems, as if you didn't really have much of a choice in the matter, as if Christ becomes a model for you to submit, no matter what, that you're under so-and-so's authority absolutely, no matter what, as if you are inherently and inferior. Twisted applications end up being made as to what marriage and parenting and family life are to be like. When actually the son is an equal to the father on the divine level, possessing his will, one and the same will. So that God the son's will is God the father's will. Meaning that when God decreed our redemption and all the economy it would entail, it could be no other way than that the father chose to send the son and that the son voluntarily condescended and stooped to become human and put himself in a position in which he would follow and trust and obey the father and do all his bidding. The son took this upon himself, sharing in the Father's love for the likes of you and me. With the Spirit, let's not forget, co-conspiring to make it all real to us as we are brought to repentance and faith, united to Christ. Then again, there are some scholars and talking heads who are not just well-meaning but erroneous, however serious and stubborn their error may be, but who are consciously anti-Christian and who will capitalize on this twisted version of Christianity and use it as an excuse for rejecting it, as if the Son of God were compelled to suffer all of these things, such that He is pointed to as a victim of cosmic child abuse, as if God the Father were an abusive tyrant. When it's the willingness of the Son on both the divine and human levels which overthrows and refutes this accusation and all the lying and slander that go with it. It wasn't God the Father making the Son do anything. They, along with the Holy Spirit, jointly willed this, setting it in motion. When the Son became a man and went to the cross, it was God being active and operative in Him. It was God providing. what He required in His holiness and righteousness, meeting His own laws, demands. It was God, in the person of His Son, taking His own wrath. Let's pretend that we're military, that it's wartime and that we have been thrust into it, into the midst of battle. If I, as your commanding officer, order you to go on nothing but a pointless suicide mission, That might just very well be a gross misuse of power and rank. But if I ask, is there any soldier who is willing to step forward and follow my guidance and lean on all the resources I give him and go on a mission, which will cost him his life, but which might just enable victory, and you raise your hand and go forth, but you're the best and the favorite among my men and it's breaking my heart, Well, that's heroism. It's tremendous virtue. So it falls short of the character and activity of the triune God as displayed at Christmas in the Savior and His willingness, His delighting in it all. First, the charge answered. Second, all doubt removed. All doubt removed. Brothers, sisters, this also needs to be proclaimed and heard in order that we might be delivered from the fear and shame which haunt us. I mean, if someone is my benefactor, reluctantly, maybe even resentfully, I don't know if I could bear looking at that person or being in that person's presence. Despite how I may have benefited, I'd want to keep away, as opposed to being reminded of how much trouble I've brought to him or to her, to have it rubbed in my face. But is that how I view God? Is that my perception of Christ? Does a mother regret giving birth to her little one? It is not the pain and grief of labor and delivery and birth overwhelmed by the sheer wonder of a newborn. That it's hers and her husband's, baby boy or girl, this new addition to the family. In a fallen world, it can't happen. It does happen. A mother's love may flag. It may grow cold. She may look away from her offspring. So declares Isaiah 49 verse 15, can a woman forget her nursing child? That she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Yet the Lord continues through his prophet, even though these may forget, yet I will not forget you, my people. He will not turn away his face in Jesus. He certainly won't be aloof or act disinterested, for his heart bursts for his children. such that His benediction and smile are forever upon you and me, if we belong to Christ. If, as I do, you take your case to Him, bringing Him your sin, your desperate plight, your longing to be made right with God, to be plucked from hell and its despair and sent heavenward, given a fixed and unshakable hope, then you can know this. that it has been His everlasting delight from before time even, and that it pleased Him in time and space history to enter in and go so low, to go through it all, for you, to elevate you with Himself, to in the end exalt and bring you with many other sons to glory. In union and communion with Him in His resurrection and ascension. It provokes laughter and cheer, celebrating and rejoicing. That's what accounts for the joy so bound up with Christmas, even if at times it's diminished and reduced to some worldly counterfeit. Jesus Christ rejoiced to do all this for His own, astonishingly for His unworthy church, for ill-deserving people like us. And in such a way that our sin is washed away and with it all the resulting sadness and stigma. So that we can stand tall and look Him in the eye and receive His embrace, unashamed, equipped to tell others of it. The mercy with which our God entreats and welcomes His image bearers, however ruined they may be in and of themselves. And so that even as we continue to fail and fall short, we can know there is no condemnation, that we can go to God in Christ's name for forgiveness, cleansing, and restoration, and be convicted of it. That He does not and will not ever become embittered towards us. That such occasions are made fit for singing, And that's something he will take advantage of in order to deal with us harshly. First, a charge answered. Second, all doubt removed. Third, an illustration drawn. An illustration drawn. There is an episode in Old Testament times which typifies this. It comes from the book of Ruth. And its storyline involving a kinsman redeemer, the enacting of that Mosaic statute by which Boaz would provide for the widow Ruth and the Israelite family she had been brought into through her earlier marriage, as she and her mother-in-law and fellow widow Naomi would return to Bethlehem poor and destitute. Boaz, a blood relation, would care. He would want to bring redemption, not simply seeing it as something he ought to do to meet a need. His being overjoyed at the prospect, his great willingness would shine forth, in fact. As Ruth chapter 4 opens, it says that a rival redeemer, in line ahead of Boaz, would come along at the city gate, a man whose name, fittingly, is never divulged. At first he seems intent on making the purchase and buying land for himself and his descendants until Boaz reveals the catch, that he must marry Ruth. Now a devout woman of God, but ethnically a foreign Moabitess, not a pure Israelite woman. And while Naomi would have been too old for marriage and bearing children, not so with Ruth. Suddenly then, this is becoming a losing proposition for the man if his only bent is on enhancing his material wealth. Because the seed raised up through a marriage to Ruth would be legally considered heirs of a limeleck, Ruth's first husband, who would keep the real estate within a limeleck's household. So not technically bound by the legislation, The man refuses, paving the way for righteous, stand-up Boaz, who is all about the spirit, not just the letter of the law, who is all about generosity and self-giving. This is all agreeable to him, no matter how high the stakes are raised, no matter how much it might cost him. Plus, he loves Ruth. He is going to get the girl. He's not merely able, but willing, gladly making this his choice. It's his delight. Redemption, you see, is a romance. With Boaz, not only in the Lord's providence, helping to forge a link in the chain, as the lineage leading to Jesus and his birth at Christmas, in that same town of Bethlehem would be perpetuated, but to top things off with this being indicative of the heart of this man, anticipating and foreshadowing Christ in terms of the way he would go about his business, which is where we head next to one final thing. First, a charge answered. Second, all doubt removed. Third, an illustration drawn. Fourth, a fulfillment provided. Brothers, sisters, our Lord Jesus would be the greater Boaz, the superior, a kinsman redeemer, the reality and substance prefigured from afar. As the bridegroom of Christ's bride, the Church, though left to herself, she is an unlovely woman, stained and wrinkled, with Church members like us furnishing proof of it, but still Our willing champion pursues us, enthusiastically committing himself to us in all that pertains to the job. Though it would begin on earth so humbly, after being conceived by a virgin, her womb being miraculously wrought upon by the Spirit, with Jesus being born in the squalor of a borrowed stable. He too would be coming to get the girl, to by His grace win her to Himself, beautifying her with His justifying, sanctifying righteousness. Though the manger at Christmas would only be the first stop, with a final stop, The last rung in the downward ladder of his humiliation being Calvary, death, and the grave by means of his bloody crucifixion on Good Friday, by which he would pay and pay dearly for the sin of his people to redeem the likes of us. And he wouldn't bat an eye. He wouldn't flinch. Though he would reckon with and recoil against the darkness, and degradation he would be put through, praying and sweating, as it were, great drops of blood the night before, as we read in Luke chapter 22, but resolving to go through with it. And this letter to the Hebrews confirms it, his being more than willing. Fast-forwarding back to Hebrews, the context reinforces it, where just up ahead in chapter 12, verse 2, we read of how Jesus would endure these things for the joy said before him. It and the outcome from Easter Sunday to Ascension Day to his second advent, his coming again, would be a joy to him as he would be ensuring a place not only for himself but for all his repentant, believing brothers and sisters at the Father's right hand where he rules and reigns up above from the pinnacle, the highest place. It was his delight. It's very reassuring to me. How about you? It's also very challenging. Like me, it means that as you follow Christ yourself, you are to do so willingly, rejoicing at all that lies before you, even if consummation And full entrance into God's Kingdom means a pathway that between here and there is laden with tribulation, as our life in Him conforms to the pattern laid down by Jesus Himself. First, a charge answered. Second, all doubt removed. Third, an illustration drawn. Fourth, a fulfillment provided. Dear brothers and sisters, I really hope I never use this as an analogy again, as I hope and pray to be done with it very soon. But as most, if not all, of you know, I have been hobbling around being plagued by an ailing left foot and have undergone treatments the last seven months, so far to no avail. My podiatrist is a good doctor, a fellow believer as a matter of fact, who seeks to be encouraging. He keeps insisting that I remember that this is only temporary, that the day is coming when it will be behind me. He says there will be a party once I'm cured. And he put it like this, the way Lepers must have rejoiced when Jesus healed them. And that got me thinking many things which are irrelevant to this message. But one relevant thing I thought of is Christ's encounter with the leper. As told in Matthew chapter 8, verses 2 and 3. And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, Lord, if you will, If you are willing, in other words, you can make me clean. And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, I will. I am oh so very willing. Be clean. And immediately the man was set free. Our Savior was and is willing, you see. It's an understatement. He is glad, happy to set us free, considering our salvation worth all His sufferings from Christmas Day onwards. So as you receive Him, reveling in Him, will you be glad? Will you be happy? Will you willingly bear a testimony to him today, tomorrow, whatever time of year it is, as you and I both reply with a hearty yes. May our Lord be honored in us, greatly honored in and through us. Amen. Let's pray. Father, please, by your Spirit, remove the barriers and the obstacles, within as well as without, that your Word might enter in and flood our hearts with the knowledge of your holy, righteous love, evidenced by the pleasure with which your Son came to undertake for our salvation. May the joy overflow to us, marking our witness to the Redeemer, through this Christmas season and beyond. Do it for your glory. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.