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Sermon #2462 — Miscellaneous Sermons

Title:                           Why Did Christ Come?

Text:                            Hebrews 10:1-14

Subject:                     The Reason for Our Lord’s Incarnation

Date:                          Saturday Evening — December 29, 2018

                                                Wasilla, Alaska

Reading:       Hebrews 10:1-22

Introduction:

The most amazing thing in all the world is the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, should condescend to become a man that he might live and die in the place of sinful men as their Substitute upon the cursed tree. I hope I never get over the wonder of redeeming love. Well did the hymn writer say…

“Could we with ink the oceans fill,

And were the skies of parchment made,

Were every stalk on earth a quill,

And every man a scribe by trade, —

To write the love of God above

Would drain the oceans dry,

Nor could the scroll contain the whole,

Though stretched from sky to sky!”

Yet, when I meditate upon this great, stupendous fact, the fact that the Lord of glory came here to live and die for me, to be made sin for me, to bring in everlasting righteousness for me, to put away by sin by being made sin, to give me life by laying down his own life, that he came here to save me, I am compelled to ask, with reverent astonishment — Why? Why did Christ come?

That is the question I want us to consider tonight. It is a question answered in many ways and in many places in Holy Scripture. But it is not answered more fully or more clearly in any single passage than it is in Hebrews chapter ten. So, tonight, I want you to look with me into the first 14 verses of Hebrews 10. Here, God the Holy Ghost tells us specifically why the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world and died in our room and stead at Calvary. If that doesn’t interest you, if that doesn’t stir your heart, if that doesn’t cause you to now cry out to God to speak to your heart by his Word, I cannot imagine what might.

Divisions: Why did Christ come? God the Holy Spirit answers that question for us in our text in three ways.

1.    Christ came here to put away sin because there was no other way for sin to be put away (vv. 1-4).

2.    Our Lord Jesus Christ came here as a Man, as our Mediator, Substitute and Representative to do and fulfill the will of God, to bring in a better covenant (vv. 5-9).

3.    Christ came here to die at Calvary to redeem God’s elect (v. 10-14).

No Other Way

1^st — Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God came here to put away sin because there was no other way for sin to be put away (vv. 1-4).

(Hebrews 10:1-4) “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. — (2) — For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. — (3) — But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. — (4) — For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.”

The law of God given by Moses, with all its rituals, sacrifices, and ceremonies, was a shadow, a type, a picture of the good things to come in and by ad with the Lord Jesus Christ. Those “good things” pictured and typified in the law are:

·      The Forgiveness of Sin,

·      Justification with God,

·      Peace with God,

·      Rest in Christ,

·      Fellowship with the Holy Lord God,

·      Preservation by Grace,

·      Salvation and Eternal Life in Christ,

·      And the Blessed Assurance of Faith.

The tabernacle, the priesthood, and the law were not given to put away sin, but only to serve as a pattern, a blueprint, a picture of the true Tabernacle and true Sacrifice, which is Christ himself (Colossians 2:16-17; Hebrews 8:4-5).

(Colossians 2:16-17 )“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: — (17) — Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”

(Hebrews 8:4-5) “For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: — (5) — Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount.”

Those Old Testament sacrifices could never put away sin. — “ For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins” (v. 2). — Do not miss the argument of our text. If those sacrifices could put away sin, they would have ceased to be offered! If I bring a sacrifice of any kind that could make atonement for my sin, then there would be no need of offering another sacrifice (Hebrews 10:12-14).

(Hebrews 10:12-14) “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; — (13) — From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. — (14) — For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.”

Once sin has been put away the sinner is discharged. Guilt is gone. Condemnation is impossible (Romans 5:1; 8:1-4; 8:33-34).

(Romans 5:1) “Therefore being justified, by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

(Romans 8:1-4) “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. — (2) — For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. — (3) — For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: — (4) — That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

This is the reason we have such assurance and confidence in Christ (Romans 8:33-34).

(Romans 8:33-34) “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. — (34) — Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”

Our Lord Jesus Christ has offered one sacrifice, and believing him we have complete, total confidence and assurance that our sins are gone (Hebrews 10:17; Isaiah 53:4-6).

(Hebrews 10:17) “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”

(Isaiah 53:4-6) “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. — (5) — But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. — (6) — All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

“Not all the blood of beasts

On Jewish altars slain,

Could give the guilty conscience peace,

Or wash away the stain.

But Christ, the heavenly Lamb,

Takes all our sins away:

A Sacrifice of nobler name

And richer blood than they.

Believing, we rejoice

To see the curse remove:

We bless the Lamb with cheerful voice,

And sing redeeming love!”

In verse 3 the Holy Spirit tells us that those carnal, legal sacrifices of the Old Testament only reminded the worshippers of God that someone must yet come to put sin away.

(Hebrews 10:3) “In those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.”

Those sacrifices offered on a regular basis and by divine appointment gave a fresh remembrance of sin. The sin for which the sacrifices were made was not put away. They were still there. The sacrifices themselves only reminded the people of their sins. The sacrifices must and did continue until the Christ came, who put an end to them and to sin by his one sacrifice of himself.

Why is it impossible for carnal sacrifices to put away sin? Look at verse 4. Did you ever notice how often we are told in the Book of Hebrews that some things are impossible?

(Hebrews 6:4-6) “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, (5) And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, (6) If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.”

(Hebrews 6:18) “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.”

(Hebrews 11:6) “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

(Hebrews 10:4) “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.”

Four Reasons

It is not possible for animal blood to take away sin. Let me give you four reasons why sins cannot be put away by such sacrifices.

1.    Sin is a transgression of the moral law. These sacrifices belong to a ceremonial law. Christ was born under and obeyed the moral law (Galatians 4:4-5).

2.    The blood is not the blood of a man. But Christ was bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh (Hebrews 2:16-18).

3.    Sin deals with the mind and conscience, to which an animal cannot relate. Christ made his soul an offering for sin. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:10-11).

4.    If sin could be put away by some other means, then Christ died in vain (Galatians 2:21).

To Do God’s Will

2^nd — Our Lord Jesus Christ came here as a Man, as our Mediator, Substitute, and Representative to do and fulfill the will of God, to bring in a better covenant (vv. 5-9).

(Hebrews 10:5-9) “Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: (6) In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. (7) Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. (8) Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; (9) Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.”

Verses 5-8 are a quotation from Psalm 40:6-8 in which David writes of Christ who was to come.

God the Holy Ghost prepared a body, a real human body and soul, for God the Son, so that he could bear our sins in his body on the cursed tree. The sacrifices and offerings of the Old Testament continued only for a set time until Christ came (1 Corinthians 5:7). God never accepted them as for atonement and righteousness. But, when the fullness of time came, he clothed Christ in a human body prepared by the Holy Spirit, that his own dear Son might (in the body of a man) obey the law and suffer for sin (Romans 5:19; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22).

(Romans 5:12) “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”

(Romans 5:18-19) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. (19) For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”

(1 Corinthians 15:21-22) “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. (22) For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”

Hebrews 10:6 tells us again that it was impossible for animal sacrifices to put away human sin. Burnt offerings and sacrifices could never satisfy his justice, appease his anger, honor his law, or put away sin (Isaiah 1:11-18).

(Isaiah 1:11-18) “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. — (12) — When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? — (13) — Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. — (14) — Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. — (15) — And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. — (16) — Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; — (17) — Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. — (18) — Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

Our Lord Jesus Christ came here as a voluntary Surety, as Jehovah’s voluntary Servant, to die as our Substitute by the will of God (v. 7).

(Hebrews 10:7) “Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.”

In the book of God’s decrees and in the Book of God’s revelation (the Bible) it is clearly written that Christ would come to work our the redemptive will of God (Luke 24:44-47; Daniel 9:24).

(Luke 24:44-47) “And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. (45) Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, (46) And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: (47) And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

(Daniel 9:24) “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.”

In order to fulfill and bring in the new, everlasting covenant and the blessings of it, our Savior completely took away the old (vv. 8-9).

(Hebrews 10:8-9) “Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; — (9) — Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.”

In verse 8 the prophecy of Psalm 40 is repeated. Here, however, all the sacrifices are included. That means this — When Christ fulfilled them all he replaced them all. Those sacrifices gave no pleasure to God except as they were offered in faith toward Christ (Hebrews 11:4, 17, 28).

(Hebrews 11:4) “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.”

(Hebrews 11:5-6) “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. (6) But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

(Hebrews 11:17) “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son.”

(Hebrews 11:2)8 “Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.”

Now, look at Hebrews10:9. — By completely fulfilling the redemptive will of God (John 6:38), the Lord Jesus Christ has put away all sacrifices, all offerings, the priesthood and all that was associated with that covenant. — “Christ is the END of the law!” He stands in the place of all that was represented in the law. Now, having Christ, we have all things in him (1 Corinthians 3:21-23; 1:30; Colossians 2:9,10).

(1 Corinthians 1:30) “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.”

(1 Corinthians 3:21-23) “Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; — (22) — Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; — (23) — And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.”

(Colossians 2:9-10) “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. — (10) — And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:”

To Die and Redeem

3^rd — The Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ came here to die at Calvary to redeem God’s elect (v. 10-14).

(Hebrews 10:10) “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

I want you to carry these four things home with you. Rejoice in them. Roll them over in your heart. Worship God and give him thanks for these four things.

1.    Christ came her to offer himself as a sin-atoning sacrifice to God at Calvary.

2.    The Son of God came here to die as our Substitute by the will of God.

3.    He came here specifically to die in the room and place of God’s elect (“Them that are sanctified!”), as our great Substitute.

4.    And he successfully redeemed all for whom he died, he successfully and effectually redeemed all God’s elect by the sacrifice of himself at Calvary (vv. 11-14).

(Hebrews 10:11-14) “And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: — (12) — But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; — (13) — From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. — (14) — For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.”

Amen.

Don Fortner

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