What Jesus Said Before He Was Born - [Hebrews 10]

I have a question for you, listen to it very carefully please. What did you say when you were born?

What did you say when you were born? I did not say what did you shriek, what did you scream, but what did you say when you were born?

I did a quick calculation, it was approximately 18 ,418 days ago

I was born. What did I say? Some of the kids looked at me like, my daughter's gone.

We don't usually talk that way, what did you say when you were born? Nobody talks that way.

What words did Jesus say when he was born? I've got a better question since Jesus is the eternal son of God.

What did Jesus say before he was born? What did

Jesus say before he was born? That's what we're going to look at today in Hebrews chapter 10.

Please open your Bibles as we look at this eternal son of God and upon his incarnation, upon this

God who would one day die on behalf of sinners and be raised from the dead, this

God had something to say before he was born. As it were, upon his descent there was something said.

It was not said to other people, it was said within the Trinity itself.

The father, son and the spirit talked to one another before Jesus was born.

I wonder what they said. By the way, I can't wait to preach this sermon. Some sermons I'm preaching through 1

Corinthians and I just think it's great, it's the word of God, it's inspired and I will dutifully preach it.

Once I start preaching I have a great time and I enjoy it and it's a privilege to be able to preach. But this one here, this one's been kind of bubbling and churning and as we say in the

Midwest it's been percolating a little bit. It's just great to consider the eternal son of God and that he existed before he was born.

No one else can make that claim. Existence before they were born? After all, this is the

God that, speaking of Jesus in John 1, 1, in the beginning was the word Jesus and the word was with God and the word was

God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made.

The eternal creator, sustainer, sovereign king existed before he was born and he said things and Hebrews 10 tells us some of those things that he said.

Don't you want to know? If I was you I'd probably quick read ahead, pretending like you were trying to fight

Hebrews 10 but quickly reading because I couldn't hardly stand myself. What did Jesus say before he was born?

And this morning we'll look at this passage because it really has everything to do with the incarnation. Of course

Luke 1 and 2 are beautiful passages about Christmas. Of course when we look at Isaiah chapter 9 and Isaiah chapter 7 and Micah chapter 5 we've got all kinds of passages we could go to when it comes to Christmas or the incarnation.

But I think this is fairly under preached and so I'd like to preach this morning Hebrews 10 with these effects.

One that you'd understand it better, two your awe quotient would increase that you'd think

Jesus existed before he was born. He said things. He fulfilled promises.

And then thirdly if you're here and you're not a Christian for you to consider this great God and consider your sins because one day you'll meet this eternal

God. I want you to meet him forgiven. That's what I want. So we'll look at Hebrews chapter 10 today asking this question.

What did Jesus say upon his arrival to birth, to earth? What did he say when he was born?

And we will look at Hebrews chapter 10 and we won't go through every verse but we'll look at enough so you'll say to yourself

Jesus along with the author of Hebrews is majestic. He's superior. The often quoted word in Hebrews, perfect.

He is the excellent savior. No one is like him. No system of religion, no person is like Jesus.

And so that's why we're here today to celebrate Jesus Christ the eternal

God. Now let's go to Hebrews chapter 10 and let me give you a quick outline.

The outline will answer this question. Why was Jesus born? In other words why did Christmas have to happen?

And I'll give you several reasons. The first reason why Jesus was born. Number one,

Christ had to be born because all other sacrifices for sin were inadequate.

Verses one through four. Every other way for sacrifice for forgiveness of sins was inadequate.

Jesus had to be born because all other sacrifices for sin were inadequate.

Now before I jump in here any farther, remember the writer of Hebrews is painting this picture that no matter what you've got

Hebrew Christians, Hebrew believers who are thinking about Christ, Jesus is better.

He's better than the prophets. He's better than the angels. He's better than Aaron. He's better than Moses.

He's better than the old covenant. He's better. What you have might be okay but it's going to be obsolete because Jesus is better.

We now dive into chapter 10 and we see in the first four verses every other way to try to get rid of sin is not adequate.

Now as I read the first four verses I want to ask you this question to think about as I read these first four verses.

If something needs constant repetition, just how good is it? If something needs to happen all the time, can it be effective?

Don't you think if something was really effective it would be one and done? So the writer here is going to try to paint the picture in the first four verses.

Repetition means something's deficient. So let's look at this and we'll see how the

Old Testament sacrificial system was not adequate to deal with sin. Verse 1,

Hebrews 10, 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 worshippers 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.

Now if you look back at verse 1, continually offered, the word means without interruption.

Talking here about the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, sacrifice year after year, day after day when it comes to this feast, this festival time.

It can never take away these sins. There must be some kind of insufficiency if you have to keep doing it every year.

There must be some kind of lack or deficit there. Oh, it's another

Yom Kippur. Daddy, I thought sins were dealt with last year. Well, we have to do it again this year.

True or false? Animal sacrifices don't make the conscience completely clean.

The answer is found in these four verses, they don't. And don't you want a clean conscience? The writer says to the book, to the readers of Hebrews, Old Testament animal sacrifices were ineffective, listen to this, by design.

They were purposely meant to be ineffective. People would still say, you know, but my conscience is still killing me.

It was all for the pointing to a greater sacrifice that was once for all.

These sacrifices serve a purpose. Look at verse 3. There's a reminder of sins every year, a perpetual reminder.

Yes, we're sinful as individuals, as a nation. Yes, we need forgiveness. Yes, we need our conscience cleansed.

But that reminder also was, and yes, this system won't do it. It's inadequate. We can't get there from here.

It's interesting, chapter 8 of Hebrews, it says, for I will be merciful toward their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more.

For the real sacrifice, Christ Jesus, no sins to be remembered at all.

In this system, yeah, we keep on being reminded that we're sinful.

Sacrifices were like John the Baptist. Sacrifices were like John the Baptist.

They pointed to a greater reality. John the Baptist didn't come and say, everybody look at me. Hi, I'm the one.

Myself and I, thank you. No, what did he do? He was the forerunner. He was pointing to a greater one.

And so, too, these sacrifices pointed to a greater sacrifice. They did help in one regard.

They showed how bad sin was. The wages of sin is what? Death. Something had to die. Blood had to be shed.

Can you imagine just how serious sin is? If even a temporary, temporal covering of sin required a sacrifice.

God is holy and God is righteous. A sacrifice is needed, but a sacrifice that will last.

The built -in obsolescence of sacrifices were to point to something so someone would say, you know, we need some sacrifice that will last, that will count.

I was thinking about modern day sacrifices, how people try to get rid of their sins. I'll sacrifice some time during the holidays.

I'll sacrifice some money. Maybe I'll go down to the homeless shelter. I think these are all fine things, but if you think those are going to get rid of your sins,

I'll give up something for Lent. I remember we had a, I know this is not a Lent message, but we had a friend come over to our house and he said, it was

Luke's friend, he said, what are you guys giving up for Lent? And I said, well, you know, the Bible doesn't say you're supposed to give up anything for Lent, so I eat extra things during Lent just because everything

God has given us is for consumption. If you're thankful to God that you're not supposed to give up things for Lent, you're supposed to be eating extra things for Lent.

But anyway, this isn't a Lenten service, so let's just keep going. But that's the human condition where you say to yourself, you know, if I just refrain from something,

I sacrifice time, money, my goods, my service, I'll give something up, therefore

I'll be pleasing in God's sight. And here with these Old Testament sacrifices, it was built in the system.

Yes there had to be a sacrifice, yes there had to be death, but who could save themselves?

Who can make the once and for all sacrifice? My question is this, how can sinful mankind solve his own sin problem?

How can you say, well my heart's wrong because of the fall and my own sin, but my hands can solve my own problem?

Can't do it. That's why we need a Savior, Christ the

Lord. Why was Jesus born? Number one, because every other sacrifice wasn't good enough.

Number two, now we start getting into the question, what did Jesus say upon his arrival? The second reason

Jesus had to be born is that only Christ's sacrifice obediently fulfilled

God's plan. Verses 5 -7, only Christ's sacrifice obediently fulfilled

God's plan. Now we're going to move into the sacrifice and it's going to have the character and nature of once for all, sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice, superior to the

Levitical system, superior to Moses, and he's going to use a psalm for his point.

The psalm is chapter 40 in the Psalms. You know what we get to do? Do you ever eavesdrop on someone?

Do you ever kind of listen in a little bit? I used to do that with kids a lot of the time. They're in their rooms talking, I want to just kind of listen for a couple of reasons.

One, I want to make sure they're saying the right thing, and number two, if they say something wrong I want to prove to them that I am omnipresent.

When you're a kid you're like, my dad, there's no way I can run from God. Yes, I am a father figure, I am like God to you.

I can hear everything, see everything. So you kind of just eavesdrop. We're now going to eavesdrop on the

Trinity talking to one another. How about that? I've heard about FBI people tapping into phone lines before.

We get to overhear as it were. We have the occasion to kind of put our ear to the wall with a little glass and say, what was the

Trinity talking about before Jesus was born? Now if you're bored right now,

I don't know what to tell you. I have nothing else to offer. This is amazing.

Right from Psalm 40, we overhear

Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, talking to the father, the first person of the

Trinity. Verse 5, consequently, when

Christ came into the world, that's just a Jewish way, a Semitic way of saying when Jesus was born.

When Christ came into the world, he said, he's not saying this to the world, he's not saying this to his father,

Joseph, this is the eternal father he's speaking to. When he came into the world, he said, he probably said a lot of things, but this is what we have written, sacrifices and offerings you father have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me.

It's the incarnation. In burnt offerings and in sin offerings, offerings from A to Z, you have taken no pleasure.

Then I said, behold,

I have come to do your will, oh God, oh father, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.

How about that? Before Jesus was born, there was an inner Trinitarian conversation that we get in on, and that inner

Trinitarian conversation was this, let's go rescue some people.

Let's go rescue some sinners. How do we rescue sinful people? Well, God is a spirit, men have flesh, so how do we represent them?

How do we identify with them? Well, one of us has to take on a human body.

One of us has to take on human flesh. And so the son said to the father, I'll do that, you've commanded me to do it,

I'll gladly do it, I'll take on a body to go live the perfect life and the perfect death,

I'll die. Far from, well, this is kind of plan

B, this is kind of flow chart, this didn't really work well, so Jesus was over there.

No, this is before Jesus' birth, this conversation. And of course,

Jesus had this attitude his whole life, but here the text is, when he came into the world.

Why was it a body? Why did God the Father prepare a body for the son? Well, you sacrifice bodies of animals, you sacrifice the body of the son.

It was not an animal body, it was Jesus' body, a person for the people, a living sacrifice.

Literally the text says there, a body was fashioned, a body was sculpted for Jesus, so he could come and fulfill the divine purposes for humanity, because Adam, he failed, and all in Adam, they failed, they couldn't live up to the standard of God, perfect righteousness, everyone has failed.

And so there was a system of sacrifice for sins, for temporary covering, but it didn't cleanse the conscience, and so every year we have to do this, yes, every year you have to do it, but then one year, it didn't have to be done.

Jesus took a body so he could die for people. The Father designed the perfect sacrifice, the divine body, a human to represent humans, but a perfect human so he didn't have to die for his sins because he didn't sin, a perfect human so he could die for other people's sins, and a perfect human that was also

God so he could have enough goodness, enough righteousness, enough holiness to give to everybody that he would like to give, not just one, not just two, but all those who would ever believe.

Jesus, the eternal God, had to become the God -man so that he could fulfill the

Father's will and so he could die for other people, other humans. Now let me ask you this, this gets very interesting.

Do you think there were Jewish people under the Levitical system, their hearts were wrong, they were disobedient, but they'd make sacrifices anyway?

Well, you know, that's what God said and we'll do it, but it was an angry heart, a wicked heart, a disobedient heart, they just got done sinning the day before, we don't care,

I don't believe you, I'm glad for what you give the nation and I'm kind of part of the nation, but if you think I'm going to give an obedient sacrifice, a humble sacrifice, a sacrifice from the heart, no,

God. Do you think there are people who sacrifice with bad hearts? So, what had to be designed by God in the eternity past, in the

Trinity? A sacrifice for sins, the wages of sin is death, someone had to die, but also a sacrifice that was given with a perfect heart, an obedient heart, a righteous heart, a willing heart, a holy heart.

It was a sacrifice for sins, yes, but an obedient sacrifice, it wasn't just sacrifice, who cares about godly living,

I'll just make a sacrifice. No, it had to be godly living and the sacrifice. True or false, or ask yourself the question, does the

Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams, 1

Samuel 15 22. I guess you have to say true, it's right from the Bible, true or false, do you believe this

Bible quote? That's what I was doing. Theologically, you think about obedience.

There's two kinds of obedience theologically, active obedience of Christ, he perfectly lived the life we should have lived, obeyed his parents, obeyed the government, obeyed the law of God, that's called active obedience.

And then there's something called passive obedience, that he died on the cross for our sins. So, God, before time, gives the son a charge, and that charge is, go take a body, so you can live the active obedience, be baptized, obey all the law, once a year fast, etc.,

celebrate the Passover, and you had to have a body for passive obedience, because the wages of sin is death, there needs to be a sacrifice, a lamb has to be slain, so to be slain, how can an invisible spirit

God be slain, he can't unless he has a body. God says,

I want the sacrifice, but I want devotion too. I want a devoted servant who sacrifices, a perfect servant who sacrifices animals, who can be the perfect servant.

So now Jesus is the perfect servant, and he is not just the servant, but he's also the sacrifice.

He's the obedient one, and he's also the one who is the sacrifice.

Now here's my question, when did God devise all this? When Luke 22, it says, the

Son of Man is going as it has been determined, when Jesus says, yes, this is all going according to plan, when was this plan instigated?

When was this plan initiated? When did it start? Well, you know, poor Jesus, he started off kind of as a messiah complex he had, and then he kind of went south, and he couldn't overthrow the

Roman government, so he got, you know, sadly killed on the cross. When did this all start?

Acts 2, Peter says, Jesus was delivered up by the predetermined plan of God.

It was already planned in eternity past. Listen to Jesus in John 10, talk about eternity past conversations.

I have, John 10, 18, authority to lay down my life, and I have authority to take it up again.

This commandment I receive from my Father. I got a commandment from my Father in eternity past to go live a perfect life and lay down my life as an offering for sinners.

When was that? It was in eternity past. And you said, Mike, you've already said that a half a dozen times. I know, but it's so mind -boggling,

I'm going to keep saying it. The reoccurring theme in the

Gospel of John is, Jesus was sent by the Father. I was going to have you look them up, but I'm just going to read you a few.

Sometime type in sent, John's Gospel. For God did not send his

Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. For whom

God has sent utters the words of God. This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.

God the Father sends the Son. My question to you is, when? And the answer is, before Genesis 1 -1.

How about that? I've come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me,

John chapter 6. Jesus said to them, if God were your

Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.

He sent him into the world. Jesus had to be born. Why was

Jesus born? Number one, all those sacrifices were inadequate. Number two, because he had to obey the

Father. Number three, Christ had to be born to save people from their sins.

Verses 8 -10. Lots of reiteration there, but we will read verses 8 -10 and talk about this great salvation.

Verse 8, when he said above, you have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings, offerings from A to Z.

These offerings are according to the law. Then he added, behold, I have come to do your will.

You see the reiteration there? He does away with the first sacrificial system 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.

The son says, I've come to do your will. What was the will of God? For the son, perfect life, including redemption.

I've come to redeem people. By the way, I'm sure glad he did, because I can't redeem myself.

And no other spiritual leader can redeem you from your sins. One man said, consider the fact that if it's

God's provision for man's redemption was through the agony of his beloved son, God will not be impressed by any other means of salvation which men may devise or in which men may put their trust.

Father, you've sent me on a mission. I'll obey. I'll go redeem the people that you've given me. Titus 2, and he gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself a people for his own possession.

Galatians 3, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.

The Father and the Son and the Spirit had this great plan before time began, and certainly there were two or three witnesses there within the

Trinity. Then Jesus went and obeyed. He took on the body that the Lord had fashioned for him, and he perfectly lived in that body as a human.

And then he died on the cross, and he effected redemption. It happened.

It worked. That's why they sing in heaven even now, worthy art thou to take the book and break it seal, for thou was slain and did purchase for God with thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

B .B. Warfield said, there is no greater title of Christ, more precious to human hearts than Redeemer.

Look at verse 8, and when he had said that above you have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings, he's just trying to add these all up so we know they're all insufficient.

These are offered according to the law. He's not ultimately pleased with those things.

He's pleased with what the Son would do and how the Son obeyed, the obedience of his

Son who never sinned. And you know, when

Jesus came, in one of my favorite verses, and if you're kind of a young man maybe you'll think this is something that the man in me really likes this.

I don't know if I'm showing you my further strangeness or not, but verse 9,

I have come to do your will. Jesus said he does away with the first in order to establish the second. By Jesus coming and sacrificing once for sins, he gets rid of the old law and now the old covenant and now he starts the new covenant.

And you know that word there, he does away with the first, it means to murder or it means to assassinate.

Jesus, as it were, takes a knife and comes up from the back of the old covenant and slits the old covenant's throat and says, you're done,

I'm the new covenant. The men are smiling, the women are saying, okay, no more

I said Jesus, Pastor. Jesus didn't come and say, well you know, that was kind of good and we'll take a lot of the principles that are there, a lot of the feasts and maybe we can have maybe the festival of booths, that's still kind of good and maybe we'll have a little bit of Passover and we'll kind of Christianize it.

Jesus comes up from behind his back and slits his throat, it's over. There's no kind of commingling, no, he does away with the first to establish the second and once that second one's established, you don't go running back to the first.

By the violence of Christ's death, he destroys the old covenant, fulfilling all the requirements of the priesthood of Aaron, Mosaic law, cleansing the consciences of those who believe.

And look at the benefits we get in verse 10, and by that will we have been sanctified. That's positional sanctification, that's justification, that's to be made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Friends, if it's ever in your mind Jesus didn't really have a body, he just kind of was a spirit being, you're instilling your sins because you need to have a

God -man who had a real body, not just a spirit, and by whose will did this happen, the offering of the body?

Friends, I've said it a hundred times because I think it's the most God -honoring thing I could ever say, salvation does not originate in man's will, because man's will is fallen and bound and enslaved.

Whose will is the one that saves here? Whose will before time was involved in preparing the body and this plan that had to happen?

Yours? Mine? Yeah, it was kind of like the Father, Son, and the Spirit and Mike were there, kind of we're planning it all out, you know,

God said I don't want you to be like a robot or something, you know, some kind of puppet or anything, so you come here in the councils of the

Trinity, the Quadrinity, and then now we're here. Friends, of course our will is involved after we've been saved, in response to the salvation our will says,

God I believe, God doesn't believe for us, I trust in you, God doesn't trust for us, I repent of my sins,

God doesn't repent for us, but I'm saying, who's the first cause? The first cause in salvation, the initiator of salvation, is

God, and a passage like this should bear it out, because who was in eternity past planning our salvation?

It had to be planned because God knew that all our plans would be what? In your face

God, here's a stiff arm for you, I don't want you, I like my sins. So God and His love, who saves sinners like that by the way?

I might rescue relatives or help friends, but somebody that would spit in my face if I approached them?

I remember when I was a lifeguard, they would always say for training, you know, you're going to go save people, swim up to them, you have to be very, very careful.

First of all, don't take your eyes off of them when you jump in, don't let your head go under, swim up to them and assess it, and here's what you need to do, you're going to try to save them, but they're going to try to drown you, they're going to drown you, so be very careful.

And here are the moves that you do underwater, and here's what you do because otherwise you're going to be dead. You think, why would

I want to save somebody who's trying to kill me? I guess I have to because I'm making six bucks an hour down at the pool, who's got that long pole instead?

But here's my point, my point is this, God loved us while we were yet enemies, we weren't

His friends, I'm going to do something nice to my friends. In the eternal counsels of God, of course He knew

Adam would fall, it was part of the plan to give God more glory because it was more glorious for Jesus to come and rescue sinners than it was to make

Adam perfect and unable to fall. If Adam was made perfect and unable to fall, God could have done that, but God gets more glory by devising this great plan and having

His son go live the perfect life as the last Adam that the first Adam could never live. Salvation originates not in man, but in God in eternity past.

That is mind -blowing, and it's a once for all. That's what verse 10 says, once for all.

What other religion in the world throughout all the centuries of mankind has a one sacrifice that's effective forever?

By the way, look at the text, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, do you see that?

Why would He write that, of Jesus Christ, once for all? Why? Because the body had to be fully human, and the body had to be fully divine, human to represent us, and divine so He'd have enough righteousness to bestow on all those who would believe.

So He says Jesus, human, it was a human body, and He says Christ because He's God.

Jesus Christ. It's there for a reason. Remember when I was a kid, I told you often I thought Jesus was His first name and Christ was

His last. It's said here for a reason. Jesus Christ, double name.

So we think, yes, bodily sacrifice, but still deity. Christ bore our sins,

Isaiah 53. John 1, He took away our sins. Hebrews 1,

He purged our sins. Hebrews 9, He put away our sins.

Daniel 9, He made an end to sin. Here's what theologians call it.

This conversation before eternity passed where the Father, Son, and Spirit say, we don't have to rescue anybody.

We could rescue them all. We could rescue some. This agreement, this arrangement, this promise is what we call the covenant of redemption.

God made a promise within the Trinity. The Son said, I'll fulfill that promise, and you want me to take a body and go,

I will gladly go. Sometimes we think of it this way. That mean Father sent the

Son to go die, and that mean Father kind of punished the Son with all His wrath. That's the wrong way to think about God.

Because it was the Father and the Son and the Spirit who all agreed, one God, three persons of that Godhead, and they said, you know, give the most glory to us, to maximize our glory, showing kindness and grace and sovereignty and wisdom, holiness.

This is the most glorifying thing that we could ever do. Let's make this plan where the

Father will gladly command, the Son will gladly go, and the Spirit will gladly affirm.

I hate to say this, especially kind of on Christmas Day, but salvation isn't even really primarily about us.

It has nothing to do with us primarily. It has everything to do with us secondarily. Are you glad?

I'm forgiven. I'm declared righteous. I'm going to heaven. I have the hope of heaven.

I have a clean conscience. It's all true. But we live in a world where everything's around us, you know.

It's this kind of talk where, you know, God don't make no junk, and you're special in His eyes, and if you're the only person that ever lived, you know,

He'd still come and die for you. Maybe there's truth to all that. Maybe there's no truth to all that.

Well, here's the truth. As glad as we are that we're saved from our sins because of Christ's life, death, and resurrection.

I'm glad. We sing. We're going to sing about that today. Rejoice. Let the world rejoice.

As great as that is, there's something more important, more glorifying, more spectacular, and that is the triune

God in the covenant of redemption saying, we are going to go rescue people, and it's not primarily about their salvation.

It's about our glory. Good side benefit, good byproduct. I never want to speak lightly of my salvation or yours, but I will speak more highly of God's glory than our salvation.

You say, well, you can kind of put them together because God was glorified in our salvation. That's true. My point is, the eternal triune

Godhead made a plan, and on Christmas day, whenever that was back in June, or now, on Christmas day, the son says,

I'll do your will, and I'll take on that body, and I will obey perfectly, so when it comes to sacrifices, that sacrifice isn't from a sinful person, a sinful priest.

That sacrifice is from a perfect human being who offers not just sacrifice, but also obedience.

I like that. You say, yeah, but, you know, theology is not very practical. That's just all kind of esoteric, ethereal, kind of, you know, pie -in -the -sky stuff.

How dare you say that? Hebrews is written with two sections.

First section, theology. Second section, application. And you know, chapter 10 is the hinge.

Chapters 1 through 10, 18, theology, 10, 19 and following, application.

So while we're in Hebrews 10, should this idea that we have a great high priest who cleans our conscience, who sacrificed once and for all, who fulfills the word of the eternal

God and eternity past, takes on a body, perfectly obeys, we're made holy, we're made right, we're declared right, we're declared holy.

The list goes on and on when you paint the facets of salvation. There's been propitiation, there's been reconciliation, there's been redemption.

Should it change the way you live? I think it should change the way you live because if your life isn't changed, then you have not experienced this would be the right kind of question.

I have a friend who's a butcher and he said he's been cutting meat for 30 -some years and he's never made a mistake before and he said for a quarter of a second,

I stopped thinking the other day and he cut his thumb almost. Everything should be okay and he's a

Christian man and I said to him, you know, just think if he had lived as old as Methuselah, you'd have to live with that.

He's 60, you'd have to live with that thumb for 900 more years. With the rate you're going, you only got about another 10 to live with it, so not that big a deal.

I have the gift of encouragement. That's why I have a lot of counseling when you come in and,

Pastor, I just need to be loved on today. My love tank's running empty and I was talking to him,

I really did encourage him and I was encouraged by him and it reminded me of the man who was a butcher and he said, you know, my life has completely changed since the

God of the universe saved me. How's your life changed? He said, you know,

I don't weigh my thumb anymore when I weigh the meat. You don't have a thumb, you don't weigh it anymore either, so God made sure of that.

He's a different guy. Look at what happens here when God saves us. What's the response?

Should it change our lives? Of course we should think this way, chapters 1 through 10, 18, but also it affects who we are.

Therefore, there's the hinge, verse 19, Hebrews 10, 19, therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, since we have a great high priest over the house of God, he just comma after comma, this is one long

Greek sentence in verse 19 through 22, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Look back up to verse 19. We have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus.

Before we didn't have confidence, before once a year just the high priest would go into the holy of holies and you hoped he came back through that curtain.

What does Jesus do through the veil of his death, the veil of his body? He goes in, he rips the veil, he opens it up and he says what?

Come in to the holy of holies, not the geographical one now, something better.

We've got confidence to enter in. Before slinking, shy, not too sure,

I've got sins and if I enter God's presence, the end of chapter 12 that Pastor Steve read, our

God is a consuming fire and I go in with sin, I'm going to be consumed. But now somebody else has already taken my sins and I walk into the presence of God and what does

God say? I don't knock my notes down. He says, son, friend, we're encouraged to come into the presence of God with confidence.

Look at verse 20, by a new and living way. The Jews were so steeped in sacrifices, now the writer of Hebrews talks their language literally by a newly slaughtered way, a newly slain way, a recent kill.

There's been a recent kill to get you in there and that recent kill has been Christ himself, his flesh.

That's amazing, that's a living way, a new and living way, it's not a dead way. We've got a high priest, verse 21, so what should we do?

Two responses from two kinds of people. One, if you're not a Christian, response number one found in verse 22, get saved, believe, repent, trust.

Let us draw near, that's just an Old Testament term used in James 4 as well, for come to Christ.

I invite you to think Christian, I invite you to ponder and then I want you to draw near with faith, saving faith, sincere faith, genuine faith.

See the text, let us draw near with a sincere faith. Some kind of ulterior motives, I'm going to kind of believe to make my spouse happy or I'm going to try to trick

God, no, but with true faith, only one God, only one God, man, only one offering.

So if you're here today and you've heard what I've told you from the word of God and you don't believe, draw near.

If you're a Christian, he tells you two things in verse 23 and 24. He says firstly to the

Christian in verse 23 of Hebrews 10, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.

Isn't this good? For you have to stay faithful to keep those promises.

What hope would there be? There would be no hope, but here's hope.

Hold fast the confession of your hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful.

He says, hold fast, chapter three, he says, hold chapter three, he says in chapter four, hold fast.

And so when it comes to this faith, what do you do? White knuckle, hold fast. I'm in a trial, there's money issues,

I'm over in Afghanistan, I'm this, I'm that, I've held things and you go, you know what? But he who promises faithful and I'm going to hold fast.

My life is upside down, but what's happened in eternity past has been effectuated in time and I'm going to hold fast.

All these other chaotic things, you know, by the way, how do you sell newspapers? How do you sell magazines?

You make people afraid. So you read, what are the prognosticators saying for 2011?

I'll tell you what they're saying, sin, death, inflation, stock market, big government.

You know what I'm telling you today because of what Jesus did with the other members of the

Trinity and then in his life and at Calvary and then raised from the dead, here's what you do. You hold fast to the promises of God.

Let go of all this other stuff. You don't say, well, let the world be damned,

I don't care. But you say, you know, I'm going to hold on to the promises of God and one of those promises says be salt and be light, of course, but I'm going to hold fast.

I'm going to grab hold of this truth so much, my knuckles are just going to be white. And then the other thing he says, for Christians, if you've heard the voice of God through the scripture on what

Jesus said before he was born, you hold fast, you keep on believing, focus your minds here on what?

Secondly, let us consider how to stimulate one another to build Y2K sheds and good deeds.

Wait a second, I knew there was something about the ESV I was struggling with. Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.

We've got this promise, God's faithful, unbeliever, believe, believer, hold on. And then, all right, this is going to be the

Greek word for it and I'm not kidding when I say this, Christian, you need to irritate your brother and sister.

That's actually the word stimulate, it means to irritate, but it's used in a good way.

Kind of this paroxysm, kind of, you know, you need to just kind of be this catalyst to try to get other people to just do good things and to think about this

Jesus for love and good works. You spur them on.

A lot of times that word stimulate means either irritation or exasperation. Hi, my name's

Mike, I have the exasperation ministry. All the one another's exasperation, irritation, incubation.

This is in a positive light. This is you're around other Christians and, you know, there are some Christians, if you think about it, and we probably should wrap it up.

When you're around them, you feel that compulsion to want to serve more, be more faithful, have the right attitude, not complain.

You're just around certain Christians and you go, you know, they lead me on. That's right.

They do the right things. I want to be like that. I need to be more like that. My position in Christ, I know, is holy, but as I work it out, that's good.

I need to be around those kind of people. Everyone here is called to be that kind of person.

And by the way, you can't do that at home, doing TV church, some kind of home church.

You have to be around other Christians because you can't irritate other people unless you're around them. Let's close in prayer.

And by the way, that word consider there, it means thoughtful perception. It means the

New Year's coming and you should write down my resolutions, not for some kind of reformation, but I should probably just sit down and think, how do

I encourage people this year? How do I provoke them to love and good deeds? How can I be the one who's not the ball and chain?

You know, everybody's like, do we have to have that person around? I guess we do. We're Christians and, you know, they're going to just kind of bring us down.

I want to be, Lord, by your grace, the kind of person that actually believes what's in chapters one to ten. Because if you believe that, how are you going to be less than infectious thinking, you know, before eternity passed,

God created this plan. He did this, he did that. God, a body died for me. I deserve sin. I deserve hell. I deserve all of these other things.

And I got saved. He's put me here. He's sovereign. He's orchestrated it all. And well, you know, I think the

Patriots got a pretty good chance this year. Watch all the football you want after you've exasperated other people.

Paul says, not Paul, the writer of Hebrews says, with thoughtful and serious contemplation, like he said in chapter three of Hebrews, consider

Christ. Now he says, consider how to stir up the bride of Christ. Verse 25, of course, you've got to be around other people, not forsaken our own assembling together.

This is the habit of some, but encouraging one another. And all the more as you do see the day drawing near.

What did Jesus say before he was born? Here's what he said. Father, as we've agreed with each other, the

Father, Son, and Spirit, we're all in total agreement that we'll get the most glory in all the universe if we don't save all.

We're not going to save just none, but we're going to save some. We're going to save the bride. We're going to go rescue a people and make them just like Christ.

And the Father said, Son, go. And the Son in eternity past said, I'll gladly go. How are we going to have you to die for sinners if you're an eternal spirit, visible?

Well, I'm going to have a body prepared for you, Son, and you take that body and with open hands and open arms and with obedience, you are the living sacrifice.

And then you die on the cross, not for your own sins, but the sins of all those who would ever believe. And then it was such a good job,

Son, I'm going to raise you, you'll raise yourself, the Spirit will raise you, and then throughout time the

Spirit will begin to apply that life, death, resurrection, perfect body, sacrifice to these people's lives, and then they're going to be so spurred, so stirred up, stimulated to change the world, that will give me great glory.

And then there's going to be an end, and the day's going to come, sooner or later, it'll all be wrapped up, and then in eternity past, everybody will go, there couldn't be a better plan.

It's the best plan ever. The God of the universe takes a body and then gets crucified and is raised from the dead.

Unbeliever, draw near. Christian, let's pray.

Father, it's good to be reminded of these things on day after Christmas. Incarnation was a baby in the manger, and to think that baby had already spoken to you, with you.

Father, I'd confess that as a group we're probably not that easily impressed with things in the world, but this is impressive.

Father, increase that impressiveness in our hearts this morning. Make your fame increase in our hearts.

I pray for some that they would contemplate this passage in Hebrews 10 all week. Can't get over it.

Prepare a body for the Son in eternity past. Wow. Thank you for saving us.

Father, we can't stir ourselves up, we can't encourage each other enough. We need your help, and so help us to do that.