HERE I AM

  Hebrews 10:5-10                  

Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, 'Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, my God.'" First, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them"-though they were offered in accordance with the law. Then he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Hebrews 10:5-10

During the Advent and Christmas seasons we have a wonderful opportunity to think through and speak about the meaning and purpose of the life of the Lord Jesus. And yes, of course folks will be expecting preachers to retell the story of the conception, the birth, the stable, and the wise men. I's what people are used to hearing at that time of year.

But the passage before us today takes us directly to the heart of how the Lord Jesus understood His life and ministry. This passage is both potentially controversial, but also massively encouraging. It can speak to us about our own lives and how we should respond to the incarnation of the Christ. Everyone who has trusted Christ as Savior has been set apart by God through what He did on the Cross of Calvary.

Every believer has been cleansed of their sins, clothed in the righteousness of Christ, and consecrated to God, because Jesus became our substitutionary sacrifice for sin and breathed into us His own perfect, abundant, and eternal life. Every Christian is sanctified by God and saved by grace through faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ. If God's justice were to be satisfied without Christ, we would have no choice but to remain dead in our trespasses and sins and be forever separated from our Father in heaven.

But God loved the world so much He sent His only begotten Son so that whosoever believes in Him should not perish and be forever condemned, but be saved, set-apart, sanctified, and made righteous. We could never have been sanctified and made holy through our own good works or worthy merit. We could never have been set apart by God and forgiven of our sins through our own vain efforts to keep the perfect requirements of the Law. But in accordance with the will of God we have been made holy, and it all is because of what Christ did on the cross.

We are now set apart, consecrated, and sanctified for God's good pleasure through Christ's substitutionary offering, made that one time on the Cross. His sacrifice paid the price for all sin and for every person who will trust in His atoning sacrifice. When Jesus was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, He paid the full price of the righteous requirements of the Law in blood on a wooden cross 2000 years ago. He did it for me and He did it for you. Let us shout, "Glory hallelujah"!!!

Father, thank You for this day and for the fact that we are sanctified in Christ. Lord, open the floodgates of heaven and pour it out on my friends and family today. Lord, help us to abide in You so we may grow in grace and live as You intended us to live. Lord, we cannot live eternally with You through good works, worthy merit, or through our own vain efforts to keep the perfect requirements of the Law. Lord, we can only live with You by faith, in complete and utter dependence upon You. Lord, help us in all things to pray: "Not my will but Thine be done." Lord., use my friends to be the light of Your love to all that need it today.

Father, we love You. Amen.