I want you to turn in your Bible once again to the book of Hebrews, chapter 10, a passage of scripture that we have been considering for several weeks now in our consideration of the subject of the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Once God had determined that he would save a people, and redeemed them from their sins out of his own sovereign good pleasure. It required the exertion of his infinite wisdom and power in order to bring about the accomplishment of that work. One who was able to meet all the qualifications as demanded by God's law and justice must be appointed to the work. None out of creation could be found, and the only one who could qualify was God's own Son, the second person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. However, the Lord Jesus Christ, qualifying for the work and being able, as very God of very God, to set his hand to the accomplishment of redemption, involved not only his ability, but his absolute willingness and conformity to the will of God therein. Therefore, this required a solemn dedication on the part of the Lord Jesus Christ to accomplish all that would be required in saving his people. in bearing the wrath of God against them under the curse of the law, and in establishing by his perfect obedience to that law its righteousness for their justification. The willingness of Christ to undertake the work of redemption is set forth in the book of Hebrews chapter 10. where he says in verse 5, "...sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me." And in verse 7, "...then said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book. It is written of me to do thy will, O God." Now, we have noted that this dedication on the part of the Lord Jesus Christ, first of all, involved his voluntary undertaking of the work of salvation before the foundation of the world. When in the eternal covenant of grace, the Father having chosen a people, the Son voluntarily assumed their responsibility and became surety in order to pay their sin debt that was owed to divine justice. Then we noted further that there had to be a continuation of this dedication from eternity throughout all those ages prior to the time of his incarnation. Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ set forth this fact in Proverbs chapter 8, when he said that he rejoiced in the habitable part of the earth, that is, in the sons of men, in anticipation of being identified with them, in anticipation of coming into the world to redeem them. And then further we noted, and this of the utmost importance, that the Lord Jesus Christ renewed his dedication to this work of our salvation as soon as he came into the world at the time of his incarnation. In other words, as soon as his human nature was formed by God the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin, Jesus Christ, the second person of the Godhead, renewed his dedication and said that while a body was being prepared, him, I said, Lord, I come to do thy will, O God. And then further, as soon as that human nature was brought into union with the Lord Jesus Christ at the time of the incarnation, the human nature also, having a distinct will of his own, dedicated himself to being a sacrifice for our sins, so that the Lord, through the psalmist David in Psalm 20, 2 stated that while he was upon his mother's breast, God made him hope in the future, hope in that which would be accomplished. Now, I want to share with you, before we look at something else concerning the willingness of Christ, to be our Redeemer, I want to share with you a statement on the dedication of the person of Christ at the time of his incarnation as written over 300 years ago by Thomas Goodwin. Thomas Goodwin says, this may safely be affirmed, that as soon as or when first he began to put forth any acts of reason, that then his will was guided to direct its aim and intentions to God as his Father, from himself as the mediator. And look, as in infants' hearts, if they had been born in innocency, there would have been sown the notion of God, that is, a knowledge of God, whom they should first have known in and by whatever else they knew, and the moral law being written in their hearts, they should have directed their actions to God and His glory through a natural instinct and tendency of spirit. The principal law written in their hearts then, and wherein holiness consists, being to direct all to God and His glory. Thus it was in Christ when as an infant, and such holy principles guided him to that which was that will of God as to him, and to be performed by him, and which was to sway and direct his actions and thoughts that were to be the matter of our salvation and justification. which were to be exerted according to the capacity of reason, as it would grow up more and more. And so, Goodwin, with that comparison to what the hearts of infants would have been without Adam's transgression, then shows that in addition to this, that perfection which adhered to Christ over and above that which would have belonged to the creature, in that the creature was in union with the divine person of the Godhead, the Lord Jesus Christ as mediator, as God-man, was able to devote himself in both natures, the divine and the human, to the work of our salvation. Well, with that as our review, we come now to the dedication of Christ as Redeemer in itself. We have examined the time of that dedication, going back to before the foundation of the world, to the realization of that dedication in the incarnation of Christ. Now, in order to illustrate how Christ was willingly dedicated to this work of salvation, to being a sin sacrifice on our behalf, I want us to examine the subject of the Nazarite vow. And I want you to turn, first of all, to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 2. And verse 23, where we read, well, let's go back to verse 19 and pick up the thought. But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, for they are dead which sought the young child's life. And he arose and took the young child and his mother and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither. Notwithstanding being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee. the northern territory of Israel, and that for a very special reason in the providence of God, not known to Joseph. And in verse 23, we are told, And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene. Now there is no particular prophet or prophecy that states those words exactly, he shall be called a Nazarite or a Nazarene. But we know that it was customary with the writers of Holy Scripture, under the direction of the Spirit, to take the best characteristics. out of Old Testament characters and apply these to the Lord Jesus Christ by the way of type and illustration. But there are implications from the prophets toward the Lord Jesus Christ being called a Nazarite. And we are going to examine this. But I want you to note that this name, Nazarene or Nazarite, was the name most ordinarily given to the Lord Jesus Christ by all sorts of people. For example, it was first of all given to him by evil angels or demons. And then it was given to him by both good angels Furthermore, Jews called him by this name, the Nazarene or the Nazarite. It was used by Pilate when he placed the inscription over the cross and had written in all three languages, this is Jesus the Nazarite, the king of the Judeans. Furthermore, it was picked up and given to him by his own disciples. in great honor after his ascension, not before, when they identified him by this title as God's Messiah. But in order that the Lord Jesus Christ might be called a Nazarite to signify his dedication unto the Lord for the accomplishment of the work of salvation, God had to arrange the most insignificant details of providence and government in order to bring this about. Therefore, it fell out in the providence of God that the word Nazarite would, by the time Christ was incarnate, come to signify both an inhabitant of the city of Nazareth and also one who had taken a Nazarite vow of dedication unto God. So a twofold significance of the name. Also, God in His control of events, to accomplish all things necessary in our salvation, had a design in Christ being called a Nazarite, as here stated in fulfillment of Old Testament Nazarites that we have beginning with Joseph and many that followed. And I mention Joseph because if you'll read in Genesis 49 where his father, blesses him, he uses the word that he is separated from his brethren, and in the Hebrew, the word translated separated there is the word Nazarite, that he is a Nazarite among his brethren. And this probably was a characteristic of Joseph that caused him to rebuke his brethren that helped bring their wrath down upon him in that he was separated from them as a Nazarite. Also it is said of others, but now I'm going to play with some words, but I think that it's significant. And I want you to turn to the book of Isaiah so that we might see that there is at least some prophetical hint of the Lord Jesus Christ being spoken of as a Nazarite or a Nazarene. In Isaiah chapter 11, and I only use this one scripture because the same type of prophecy is made by Jeremiah and Zechariah, but in Isaiah chapter 11, we read in verse 1, And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots." Now, we are told that the word from which branch is translated, which very definitely has reference to the Lord Jesus Christ, the branch, is the Hebrew word, netzer. And it is from this word, netzer, that we get the word Nazareth. And so literally the word Nazareth means a city of branches. And so here is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ as being a netzer, translated literally branch. And so he not only comes from Nazareth, but he is the branch as well. However, it is the Old Testament Nazarite in particular That signifies the Lord Jesus Christ, and so ceremonially these existed for that reason. We're going to direct our attention to the most known Nazarite to see how he illustrates Christ, and that is Samson, with the exception of his clowning and his folly. But as a Nazarite, he was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. But first, I want you to turn to the book of Numbers, chapter 6, where we have the law of the Nazarite, that is, one who took the vow of what he was restricted to. Beginning with verse 2, we read, ìSpeak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord. That's what the vow was taken for, to be separated unto the Lord, to be holy unto God. He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine or vinegar of strong drink, Neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes or dried. All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk. All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head." Now, of course, the question arises immediately, and I will touch this again shortly, but let me merely explain it in passing, the question immediately arises, but the Bible says that John the Baptist, as a true Nazarite, came forth neither eating nor drinking. That is, the forbidden things, and undoubtedly the razor did not touch his head. But we have no reason to believe that the razor did not touch our Lord's head. And furthermore, he was accused in contrast to John the Baptist of coming, eating and drinking, and they called him a wine-bibber. How could this be if he was to fulfill prophecy and be a Nazarite? Well, the answer is not far to seek. You must remember that the Lord Jesus Christ never took a Nazarite vow openly. Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ did not come under the ceremony of the Nazarite Lord. Now, the Nazarite who typified Christ had to come under an outward purification, an outward separation that would be signified in his long hair and his abstinence from anything derived from a grape. And the reason was to depict ceremonially and outwardly that which would be true of the Lord Jesus Christ really and internally, and that is his total separation unto God and his work in the deliverance of his people, because that was the major work of a Nazarite. Always the separation was the deliverance of God's Let me further illustrate this by pointing out that the Lord Jesus Christ nowhere himself in his earthly ministry was dedicated as a priest. And yet after his work was accomplished, it was declared of him that he was a priest after the order of Melchizedek. So these two things, his total separation, as depicted by the Nazarite and his priestly work as our mediator, was that which was secret until revealed in Holy Scripture. Now I want you to turn to the book of Judges, first of all, that we might see the circumstances surrounding Samuel. and his birth, and his being a Nazarite, or Samson, excuse me. In the book of Judges, chapter 13, beginning with verse 2, we read, And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah, and his wife was Baran and Baranot. Now, underline that, she was barren. Number two, the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman and said unto her. So an angel made his appearance to a barren woman. Behold, now thou art barren, and barrest not. But thou shalt conceive and bear a son. Therefore, prior to his conception, a son's birth is designated. Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine, nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing. For lo, thou shalt conceive and bear a son, and no razor shall come on his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb." Now watch it, watch the next statement, "'And he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistine.'" He shall be a Nazarite separated unto God, with his separation being an outward sign, whereas with Christ it was internal. And he shall begin to deliver his Israel. Now I want you to turn to the Gospel of Luke, and to chapter 1, and let's read the circumstances surrounding the conception of the Lord Jesus Christ. Beginning with verse 26, We read, And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused of a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus." Look at verse 35, "...the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing," that separated thing, that hagios, which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." And there is his Nazarite separation. Now, two things must not be overlooked before we make the parallel. Whereas the Lord Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, of Judea, the house of his father David, in fulfillment of Scripture by the providence of God arranging a census taking, he was conceived in Nazareth. Now the Jews could not know that. Therefore God arranged it after they came out of Egypt, that Joseph not go into Judea, his home country, but back into the remote country of Galilee to the city of Nazareth where the Lord would grow up and receive his education and come out of that city so that he might be called a Nazarite. So he was conceived in Nazareth and he grew up in Nazareth according to the will and prophecy of God. Now let's look at these scriptures concerning Jesus and Samson. For Samson is an illustration of the Lord Jesus Christ, first of all. Both were separated from the womb to be holy, to be Nazarites. Now, from the law of the Nazarite, it was not necessary that a person's vow to this order be from birth to death. But a person could take a Nazarite's vow for a special work or for special sanctification, and during that time abstain from grapes and its derivatives, and the cutting of his hair and the shaving of his beard. And then once the job was accomplished or the period of time set aside expired, he could turn back to his normal way of living. But not so with Samson. He was declared by God to be a Nazarite from birth. And so the Lord Jesus Christ was declared by God to be that holy thing from his conception. Furthermore, in both events, that is, the conception of Christ and the conception of Samson, prior to the conception was the appearance of an angel with the willingness and dedication of the mother of each. to that which was revealed to them concerning their sons. It was not only necessary that Christ dedicate himself to the work of redemption, but even Mary, his mother, had to say, ìLet it be unto me as it seems good to the Lord.î She had to give her consent to the part she had in our Lordís coming into the world. And then further, we may note with Samson, that as the angel was sent to a woman utterly barren in order to show that his conception was extraordinary, and so of the Lord's intervention, the Lord Jesus Christ was conceived of a virgin even more barren. than a married woman unable to conceive in order to show that his conception was supernatural. Then again, the messages sent at and before their conception concerning these sons are parallel. First of all, Samson was to be a Nazarite of God. holy and consecrated to God from the womb to begin delivering Israel from bondage. The Lord Jesus Christ was to be that holy thing from his mother's womb to begin his work of redemption and deliverance of his people from the bondage of sin. Furthermore, in this work ascribed to Samson the Nazarite, it was to be a savior of his people. And that which was ascribed to the Lord Jesus from the beginning was that he should be a savior. The angel said, Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin. And then, as not true of all Nazarites, with reference both to Samson and the Lord Jesus Christ, they were to be Nazarites from their conception until the day of their death. And so it was in his death that Samson wrought his greatest deliverance in the destruction of the Philistines. And the Lord Jesus Christ, we are told in Philippians 2, was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, and it was in his death that he made an open display and conquered his enemies and wrought the salvation of his people, pulling the temple columns down around the ears of Satan the Philistine. Well, now let us see how it was ordered by God that the Lord Jesus Christ should be so designated as a Nazarite. that he should be given this title. First of all, in his all-wise counsel, the Lord ordered that the name or title Nazarite should be used in the common language of the Jews at the time of our Lord's conception to express a person who came out of the city of Nazareth. And so though they used it in derision and mockery, nevertheless, every time they called him a Nazarite, they were declaring that he was holy and separated unto the Lord's work. Now, time will not permit us going into this, but it would be quite interesting to read a good segment of the book of Jeremiah, chapter 31. For there we have a twofold prophecy. We have the prophecy of the weeping of Rachel over her lost sons. Of course, Rachel was the mother of Benjamin, and we know that Benjamin had his territory with the Judeans, And this prophecy was fulfilled in the killing of the young male children at the time of the birth of Christ, when there was great weeping in Ramah, near to Judea. And so in that scripture there is a hint to the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ would be born in his own land, the land of Judea. But if you come down to verses 21 and 22, There you see that Ephraim is addressed, the ten tribes, and are told to look to their land, Galilee. For there, God would perform something that had never been done before. And he explains what it is. The Lord would encompass a woman. which had reference to the conception of Jesus Christ, and it's significant that when Christ was conceived, he was conceived not in the land of Rachel, where the weeping took place, but in the land of Galilee. So here the conception and the birth are both hinted at in that scripture. The birth in Rhema, verses 15 through 17, the conception in the northern part of the country in verses 21. Now, the Lord Jesus was to be called the Nazarite and so fulfill the teaching of the scripture on the subject of the Nazarite. Now, as I have already said, Christ was not to take up the outward legal and ceremonial profession of a Nazarite among the Jews any more than he took up the legal profession of a priest. But he did profess to his father, I delight to do thy will, O God, and separated himself secretly from the womb to the work of the father. Therefore Jesus was to be called a Nazarite because of outward circumstances, because of an outward identification. First of all, Herod's fear and wrath was used by God to get Joseph and Mary up into Galilee to begin with. That was not their home. But Herod, who was an Idumean, a descendant of Esau, who had illegally, through murder and deception, through his own family, usurped the throne, was fearful of any rightful heir to that throne. Both Joseph and Mary were heirs of David, and so out of the wrath of Herod, had by the providence of God, removed to Galilee in the north, so that Jesus could be conceived there in fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy. Furthermore, after his conception, God stirred up the desire of the king to know his inhabitants, and they were forced to Bethlehem where the Lord was born in fulfillment of Scripture. To save his life from murder, they fled to Egypt in fulfillment of Scripture. And then after returning, rather than going back into Judea, they went back to Nazareth, and God again had moved upon the scene. And rather than allowing Herodias, the brother of Herod, to ascend the throne, his son Archelaus ascended the throne, who was as bloody as his father. So that in this bit of accidental history arranged by God, Joseph and Mary dared not go back to their own homeland, but rather back to Nazareth, where the Lord Jesus Christ grew up. So now, coming from there, having spent thirty years in Nazareth, out of scorn and malice, they say he is a Nazarite. But in so saying, they fulfill the word of God and declare that the Lord Jesus Christ was separated to this work, and so had freely given himself to accomplish our redemption. Now, very hurriedly I want us to see his willingness in all parts of the performance of that work. I come to do thy will, O God. We may note, first of all, that he states his dedication to the work of redemption in the temple at the age of twelve. having remained behind for three days, disputing with the learned doctors there. When rebuked by his parents, he said, I must be about my father's business, don't you know that? Now whatever else you may think, at least when Christ was twelve years old, he had a full epistemological consciousness, and that's just a big term, that he had full self-knowledge consciousness that he was the Messiah, that he was about his father's business, that he had been sent into this world upon an error. And his business was not that of other twelve-year-old children in their place. but rather doing the will of his Father. Then we may note further, in his earthly ministry, when he went out publicly at the age of thirty, he began to declare the greatness of the sufferings that were yet to come upon him, and revealed his frame of spirit in this. Now, being able to comprehend fully The apostle Peter called him aside as a good friend and said, ìNow, we wonít have this kind of talk. Weíre not going to let you die.î And the original language is that anger gripped our Lord in such a fashion that the countenance and color of his face changed, and he looked at Peter and said, ìGet behind me, Satan!î Why? He was a Nazarite. He was dedicated to the Lord for the deliverance of his people. He must. suffer many things. Furthermore, we see his willingness and eagerness to redeem his people as the time of his sufferings on the cross drew near. As a matter of fact, although he went by some Samaritans on his way to Jerusalem, the Bible tells us in Luke chapter 9 that when the Samaritans saw him, They saw that his face was so determined and set toward Jerusalem and his coming hour of death there that they did not bother to hear him. He was a determined man. Then at the Last Supper, our Lord shows his willingness to suffer because in Luke 22, he says, I have longed with a most passionate desire for the arrival of this time in order to accomplish the work given me. He says to Judas, now go do that which you must do. And Judas could not leave, as we'll see later, until Christ gave him permission. And as soon as Judas left, it is as though our Lord claps his hands and says, Now is the Son glorified, and my Father is glorified, as if he were saying, Rejoice with me. And how is he glorified? In that most glorious work of suffering in obedience, even unto the death of the cross on Calvary. I am glorified. I have fulfilled my Nazarite vow. I am obedient all the way in the deliverance of my people. We further see this in John's Gospel, chapter 18, when the soldiers came out to the Garden of Gethsemane, how it was our Lord who did not wait for them, but got up and met them, and addressed himself to them and said, Whom do you seek? And they said, Jesus the Nazarite. And he said, I'm he. He identified himself before Judas could plant the betraying kiss, and freely gave himself into their hands. When he hung there on the cross, he had enough to provoke him to demonstrate his divine power with the jeering and mocking of the blasphemous crowd as they said he saved others, but himself he cannot save. Ah, but the Bible says he despised the shame and endured the cross. He was set to the work. He, under God, was a Nazarite who had willingly and deliberately dedicated himself from the womb to accomplish the work of redemption. Therefore, at that time of his conception, he declared, O Lord, to do Thy will. What a statement and what a consequence in the salvation of the chief of sinners. Let us stand for prayer. Our Father, we pray that Thy Spirit will bear witness to this glorious truth. and broaden our vision of that which was necessary in the accomplishment of our salvation. Through so great a sacrifice, through such a determined dedication, and how we thank Thee that the sin debt was paid and paid in full, we pray that Thou wilt bless this message to awaken sinners to their lost condition and to their need of salvation, strengthened by people, by their knowledge of what was necessary in the accomplishment of that salvation, in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.