Please open your Bibles to the book of Hebrews, Chapter 10. Hebrews, Chapter 10. I will read verses 1 through 10. Hear now the reading of God's Word. For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come, instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered? Since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins. But in these sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins every year, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you 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. When he said above, you have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings. These are offered according to the law. Then he added, behold, I have come to do your will. He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Let's pray. Oh, Lord, would you please open the eyes of our hearts that we might behold wondrous things from your word today? We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, I want to ask the question which seemingly every Christmas movie wants to ask, and I'm sure you have heard many times, and that is, what is the meaning of Christmas? Usually the answer goes something like this. If you watch a movie, a TV show, it'll say, the true meaning of Christmas is that we need to love one another. Loving one another is a good thing, We ought to love one another, but that is not the true meaning of Christmas. Christmas is about the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. So the question could be more clearly asked in this way, why did Jesus come to earth as a man? Why did Jesus come to earth as a man? We could even adjust the question a little bit more and say, what did Jesus Christ understand about himself as the reason why he came into the world, right? He knew his mission. He knew what he was doing. He knew why he came. So what does he himself say about why he came into the world? If we could interview Jesus and ask him, Jesus, what were you thinking when you came to earth? What was your purpose? Wouldn't that tell us what the meaning of Christmas is? Well, at least in part, that is what our text does for us today. It tells us what Christ himself said about his coming into the world. Notice in verse five, it says, consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, and then it quotes from Psalm 40. Now, that's kind of an interesting thing to find, isn't it? When Christ came into the world, he says this. Now, we aren't to imagine A newborn baby lying in a manger suddenly speaking these words. That's not the point. The baby Jesus did not have the ability to speak in that way. And in fact, the text is not saying that there was a particular moment in Jesus' life when he uttered these words, although that's possible. but rather that the words of Psalm 40, which he's quoting, are owned and claimed by Jesus as describing his own purpose in the incarnation. This is what I came to do. It's what Psalm 40 says. Now there are three components to what Jesus Christ says here as he comes into the world, and so that will be our outline. It will be to spend some time on each of those three things that he claims as his reason for coming into the world. But first, I want to give you just a very quick background on the book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrews is all about how Jesus and the new covenant are better than everything in the old covenant. Jesus is a better prophet, a better priest, he's a better king, he's a better sacrifice. At this point in the book of Hebrews, the focus is upon Jesus as a better priest. We learn he is the one who is doing the sacrificing, right? He's the priest who puts something on the altar, but he is also the one who is being sacrificed. He is priest and sacrifice at the same time. And that sacrifice is a once-for-all sacrifice, one that actually forgives sins and secures an eternal reward, as we will see in our passage. The reading in Hebrews chapter 10 picks up on these themes. In verse one, it reminds us that the Old Covenant was just a shadow of better things to come, the better things to come being Jesus and his sacrifice. It tells us that the Old Testament sacrifices never actually had the ability to make the worshipers perfect. It did not have that ability. Verse two then asks a rhetorical question. It points out that the sacrifices would not have continued to be offered if they had actually taken away sins. If they had actually cleansed somebody, you wouldn't need to keep making sacrifices. So the worshipers were not actually cleansed by those sins, which might prompt the question, well, why have the sacrifices at all? Well, verse 3 tells us at least one reason is to give them, the people of Israel, a regular reminder of their sin. Animals are continually being sacrificed year after year after year. Why? To tell the people of Israel, you will continue to be sinners. But And because they are sinners, they need their sin to be atoned for. Blood needs to be shed. But it could not be a sacrifice of a bull or a goat, because as verse 4 says, those animals could never actually atone for sins. So the Old Testament sacrifices were a shadow of something greater to come. They had no power in themselves. They're pointing forward to something ahead. And that sets the scene for us in verse 5, where it says, consequently, when Christ came into the world, he says, and he quotes, Psalm 40. And that's where we're going to spend our time today. Let's look at these three things that Jesus says about his coming into the world in verses 5 through 7. The first thing he tells us is that Christ says that God does not desire sacrifices and offerings. He begins it with the sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, and it picks up again in verse 6, in burnt offerings and in sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. This is not what God wanted. This is not what will satisfy Him. Now, I think a question immediately pops into our heads. Isn't God the one who commanded these sacrifices? Didn't he tell Israel to do this? And now we're being told that he takes no pleasure? It's not what he desired? How do these things fit together? Well, we're meant to understand this is not some kind of absolute statement as though God detests sacrifices. Instead, this is a commentary that God himself is offering in which he's communicating that all of the sacrifices offered on Jewish altars never satisfied the requirements of his justice. Yes, he is the one who told them to do this, but at the end of the day, none of these sacrifices, or all of them taken together, could not satisfy the demand of his justice. Again, we just read about that in verse 4. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. So that's the context for this word from God that he has not desired sacrifices and offerings. The purpose in these sacrifices and offerings was not to take away sins. When it comes to taking away sins, that was not their purpose. Not in an ultimate sense anyway. It's saying that what is required for atonement has not been and cannot be fulfilled through the sacrifice of animals. The fact of the matter is, the Old Testament sacrifices did not cleanse anyone in an eternal way. They did not pay for any sins in an eternal way. That's the argument of verse 2. The continued repetition of the sacrifices, being sacrificed over and over, year after year, hundreds of years, and they still need to be offered, that repetition proves that the sacrifices did not satisfy God's justice. The Old Testament sacrifices could bring about no permanent change in the people. So did the Old Testament sacrifices have any usefulness? Did they have any purpose? Yes, they did. Here are four, and there are more that could be added to this. One purpose And I'm only going to touch on this. You can ask me questions about it later if it doesn't quite make sense to you. One purpose is that this was the terms of the covenant for the people of Israel to continue to live in the land. If you want to continue to live in the land, then when you sin, you need to offer these sacrifices. It's part of the arrangement that God made for the people of Israel. There's a sense in which the blood of bulls and goats, you could say it took away some covenantal guilt of the people so they wouldn't be kicked out of the land right away. But it doesn't take away any permanent, eternal guilt before God, the judge, in terms of our eternal standing before him. So there's one purpose in the sacrifices. A second purpose, though, is that God was teaching them what is required as payment for sin. The payment that God requires for sin. The price of sin is the shedding of blood. That's the price of sin. When sin demands death. The bulls and goats and lambs that were continually offered were showing the people that blood is what God demands as payment for sin. Third purpose was to show, and we said this already, to show that we are sinners. The continual reminder, year after year, even day by day, Not only do the sacrifices say, hey, your sin requires the shedding of blood, but it also says, you are sinners. You are the ones. You are guilty before God. But then fourth, and here's the point of Hebrews 10, the point of the sacrifices was to direct us forward to something greater. to the Lord Jesus Christ, that better sacrifice. They were the shadow and he is the reality, he is the fulfillment. They were types, they were shadows of the greater sacrifice to come. So when it says that God does not desire sacrifices and offerings, or he takes no pleasure in burnt offerings and sin offerings, we're not meant to read that as though God is dismissing sacrifices and offerings altogether. After all, Jesus Christ himself becomes the sacrifice that God does desire. Instead, he's commenting upon that Old Testament sacrificial system, and he's saying, These were empty in themselves. They did not have value in themselves for atoning sin. The value that they had was in what they pointed to, the Lord Jesus Christ. So we have this negative evaluation of sacrifices and offerings. And it's extensive. There's four different words used. He calls them sacrifices, offerings, burnt offerings, sin offerings. This is comprehensively covering the entire Old Testament sacrificial system. It includes the daily morning and evening sacrifices. It includes the yearly sacrifices on the Day of Atonement. It covers special sacrifices that would be offered when needed. None of these could do anything to take away sin or satisfy God's justice. And that sets up the problem then, the problem that the rest of the words from Jesus will answer. So the problem is, we are sinners, and the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away our sin. How can we be forgiven? What is the way for our sins to be atoned for? Is it even possible that our sins be atoned for? Well, that brings us to the second thing that Jesus says about his coming into the world. Verse 5, consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me. A body you have prepared for me. This is a statement about the incarnation. He came, he was given a body, and of course, not just a body. The body stands for an entire human nature. He became man. He took on human nature. The eternal Son of God took on a human body and a human nature, being conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He was born, he grew up, he lived for over 30 years as a man, as a human being, with a real human nature. Now, how does this answer the problem of our sin? Well, atonement is needed. Blood must be shed. There needs to be an acceptable sacrifice. Well, in order to be sacrificed, there needs to be a body, right? The eternal son of God did not have a body. The eternal God, in his divine nature, did not have any way that he could die. But when he takes on a human body, now he is able to be sacrificed in our place. This was the plan. This was the intention of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, that the Son would come as a man and die in the place of men and women. Body, you have prepared for me, for this purpose. Think about this for just a moment. This is really remarkable. Perhaps we can be so familiar with this, it's easy to miss how profound and wonderful the Incarnation is. The Eternal Son of God existed in perfection and pure blessing, needing absolutely nothing. He didn't lack anything, he didn't need anything. He is the object of worship and adoration, of creation, and he is the object of the love of the Father and the Spirit. There's nothing missing from this picture, nothing that he needs. It's not as though, you know, sometimes people present the gospel as though it's, well, God is just sitting up there, he needs you so badly, and he's just waiting and hoping that you'll pick him. There's nothing like that in scripture, nothing like that. God has everything he needs. He is fully satisfied and delighted in himself, Father, Son, and Spirit. And in this state of blessedness, the Son agrees to carry out a mission that's been given to him by the Father. In this mission, Now, this is important. We're going to get a little technical here. But in this mission, that perfection, the blessing, the worship he receives, the love that he has from the Father and the Spirit, those things do not change at all. There is no change to those things, because there is no change to his divine nature. However, he does take on another nature. a human nature, a nature that is dramatically different from the divine nature. This human nature is frail, it is mortal, it is limited. So he has everything he needs, perfect bliss, and he takes on this, the weakness of a human nature. Not only that, But he enters into a sin-cursed world, a world of hardship and sorrow and pain, a place where there are betrayers, where even friends are unfaithful, a world where loved ones die. From the glory of heaven, he takes on this human nature and enters into a sin-cursed world. Not only that, he enters into this sin-cursed world in a humble state, not in a palace. He's born to a poor family under suspicion of immorality that would hang over him all his life. Oh yeah, your mom got pregnant before she was married. His birth encapsulates his humility in that there wasn't even a proper room indoors somewhere for him to be born, but instead was with the animals and was laid in a manger at his birth. So he takes on this limited creaturely nature. He enters into a sin-filled world, and he comes into this world in a humble condition. And then, even more, He came to die for sinners. The one man in all of time and all of history, the one man who ever deserved life laid down his life for people who are desperately wicked, for people who were his enemies, for people who had assaulted him for people who should have been bowing before him in love, but instead hated him, mocked him, ridiculed him, excluded him, plotted his death, and then finally carried it out, only because they got some people to lie about him and then pressured the governing ruler to give in. Do you see how many layers there are in this? This is what it means when it says, a body was prepared for him. A body in which the Son of God would come incarnate and would live and then die a terrible death, suffering the wrath of God for sinners. And Jesus knew this was his mission. And he was determined to carry it out, even as a boy. Jesus understood something of what he was there to do. He told his parents he was there to do his father's business. He had a mission. This is what was prepared for him, a mission that was to come as the sacrifice for sins, as the spotless lamb who would die in the place of sinners and actually make atonement for them. Blood. of bulls and goats could never take away sin, but the blood of Jesus Christ could. Throughout his ministry, Jesus knew this is where it was leading. In Luke chapter 9, verse 51, it says that at that point Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem. He knew it was his time. He began to head towards the city where he knew he would die. This is why he had a human nature. This is why a body, a human body was prepared for him. Jesus says it himself in Mark chapter 10, verse 45. He says, for even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. He came as a man to die. for men. Jesus came for this specific purpose of dying a sacrificial death. His blood could atone for sins. And so this body was prepared for him that he might die for us. Now, there's still one more piece to what Jesus says about his coming into the world. We've seen how he says that the Old Testament sacrificial system could not take away sin. And we saw, secondly, how he says, a body you have prepared for me. The final part comes in verse 7. 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. Here, Jesus expresses that his purpose is to do the Father's will, to, again, to fulfill that mission that he has been sent on, the mission to die for sinners. He does the Father's will. This is something Jesus says a number of times in his ministry. Here's just a couple examples. John chapter 5, verse 30, Jesus says, I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me. John chapter 6, verse 38, I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. Came to do the will of the Father. But in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 7, there's a second part of the phrase. He says, behold, I've come to do your will, O God. And it says, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book. as it is written of me in the scroll of the book. And there's two possible ways to interpret this. One way is to see this as referring to the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus that declared what the Messiah was coming to do. You might think especially of Isaiah chapter 53 about the suffering servant who would come in obedience to God and die for sin. But there's another way to understand this, and that is to see the reference to the scroll of the book as referring to the law of God. As though to say, behold, I have come to do your will, O God, that will which is written out in your law. Meaning that Jesus not only came to die, but he also came to keep the law in our place." Written in the scroll of the book is the law that Jesus had to keep in order to be an appropriate sacrifice. Now, I've said a couple of times that these verses, 5 through 7, are quoted from Psalm 40. In Psalm 40, it makes up verses 6 and 7. But if we read the next verse in Psalm 40 that follows this quotation, it says, I delight to do your will, O my God. Your law is within my heart. Your law is within my heart. I've come to do your will, meaning I've come to keep the law. Now, what kind of lambs had to be offered in the Old Testament? Spotless lambs, right? What kind of sacrifice did Jesus have to be? A sinless sacrifice. If Jesus was not sinless in himself, then he could not die for anyone else's sins. His death can only be accepted as atonement for sins if he himself kept God's law, if he was obedient. And so his mission from the Father was not just to come and to die, but also to come and to live in our place. This is so important for the way we think about our salvation. Our salvation does not come only from the fact that Jesus died for us, but also from the fact that he lived for us. Our sins become his in his death, but his obedience becomes ours. There's a double transfer that takes place. Our sin and the guilt of our sin goes to Jesus, but his obedience and his status as righteous comes to us. We call this imputation, imputation of righteousness. And this makes a whole and united salvation, sins forgiven and a righteousness that is transferred to us. We are rescued from our sin and misery and we are brought into everlasting life and blessedness. And this is also what Christ came to do. He came not only to die as a man, but also to live as a man. He came not only to die for us, but also to live for us. So these are three things that Jesus himself says about his purpose in coming into the world. First, he tells us there is no other way to be saved, because even the Old Testament sacrifices couldn't take away sin. Then he tells us, he came into the world to be the sacrifice, to die for us. And then he tells us, he also came to live for us, so that we are not only forgiven, but we are also righteous. As we head towards the conclusion of this message, I want to draw your attention to another theme in these verses. Throughout Hebrews 1-10, there is a theme about the status of those who would worship God, the ones who would draw near to Him. In verse 1, we're told that the sacrifices in the Old Testament law could not perfect those who draw near and worship. And in verse 2, we're told that if the old covenant sacrifices had been successful, then the worshipers would not still have a consciousness of their sins. And in verse 10, we read that because Jesus did the will of the Father, because he offered up his body as a sacrifice, we have been sanctified. And it says that we've been sanctified. It's speaking to the same concepts as in verses 1 and 2. meaning we have been made perfect, we have been cleansed, and the consciousness of sin has been removed from us. Not that we never sin, but that when God the Father looks upon us from the perspective of the judge, that he sees us as perfect because he sees us in Christ. But here's the point. Anyone who comes to worship God by faith in Jesus has the assurance from Christ himself that they have been sanctified. This means you, if you come in the name of Christ, By faith, if you're trusting in the Lord Jesus, you are sanctified. You are cleansed. And God does accept and receive your worship and is well pleased with it. Now, you know your heart, right? You know how much sin is mixed with your worship, don't you? How many times have you sat in the worship of God and felt your inadequacy, your insufficiency, and your unworthiness? God knows all of that and even more, but that's not what he sees. That's not what he looks upon. For he looks upon you and he sees Jesus. And then verse 10 ends by saying, and by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Once for all. This being sanctified, it happened once, and it is for all time. The old covenant sacrifices were repeated over and over and over again. But brothers and sisters, there was a sacrifice that was offered for you once for all. And you have received the cleansing power of that sacrifice by faith in Jesus once for all. And it can never change. For that sacrifice established a new covenant. As it says in verses nine, the old one is done away with and a new one is established. And in this new covenant, God really does forgive sins and remembers them no more because a legitimate sacrifice has been made. A spotless lamb has voluntarily shed his blood for you. You are forgiven. You are declared righteous. Now, I've just spoken. to those who are drawing near to Christ by faith, those who are trusting in the Lord Jesus, that they are forgiven, they are sanctified. And that is good news for them. But the good news is not only for those who are currently trusting in Christ. The good news is intended for sinners, whoever you are. This atoning blood shed by the Lord Jesus upon the cross has made a way open for anyone, anyone who would come to Jesus in faith. Maybe you have never trusted in him before. If you have never repented of your sins, never asked God to forgive you, believing that Jesus died for you, you still can today, right now, this very moment. In fact, God commands you to. He says, believe. It's a command. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. You are a sinner. You are a sinner, and blood must be shed. But Christ was sent to die in your place. if you will trust in him. Turn from your sin, and in doing so, turn away from the condemnation that will come to you, and instead find a savior who loves you and gave himself up for you. And this is why he came into the world, which means this is the meaning of Christmas. Jesus died for sinners, so we might have everlasting life. Let's pray. Father, once again, our Savior has been lifted up before us. In your Word, we have beheld his glory, glorious, of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. We praise you for this gift, and we pray that through him, life might come to each of us. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.