We'll look at verses 6 to 10. I can read through them first of all.
Psalm 40 and from verse 6.
Words that were quoted in the passage we read in Hebrews chapter 10.
Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but you have given me an open ear.
Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.
Then I said, Behold, I have come. In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
I desire to do your will, O my God. Your law is within my heart.
I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation.
Behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord.
I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart.
I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation.
I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.
And obviously from the New Testament quotation of these words,
they are applicable to the Lord himself by way of this being a prophecy
of what would later come to be realized and fulfilled
in the arrival of the Son of God incarnate in our world, in our nature, Jesus Christ.
The Psalms have many references, as you know, to the redeeming acts of God.
The Psalms, of course, the book of Psalms is a unique book, unique from one point of view,
that it's set out for a manual of praise and, you know, very well it's been turned,
as we use it, into verse that we can actually use in our singings of praise.
But throughout the book of Psalms, in these references to the redeeming acts of God,
you actually have passages that speak specifically of what the New Testament makes clear,
are references to God the Father, God the Son, Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit,
the Holy Spirit mentioned specifically at times.
And so you would expect that when there are such exact matches from the book of Psalms
to some passages in the New Testament that speak about Jesus,
for example, Psalm 22, the beginning of the first verse there, as you know,
my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Well, these are the words, the very words that Jesus took and used on the cross,
as you know, in the very process of laying down his life.
You would expect, then, references in the Psalms to the likes of things like atonement,
such doctrines as the doctrine of the atonement,
sacrifices that themselves represent the sacrifice of Christ of himself.
You'd expect the sufferings of Jesus to be mentioned, and they are,
not just in Psalm 22, but other Psalms as well.
You would expect also to have such references to the way in which God has fulfilled his promises
through the work of Christ.
And therefore, in the book of Psalms, here in Psalm 40,
is just one passage out of many that refer to God's saving act,
but especially to the Lord Jesus Christ himself,
coming to speak of his obedience,
his obedience as part of his atoning work,
the center of his atoning work,
as that is made clear in the New Testament.
And the high point of these verses is,
in these words,
behold,
I have come.
The rest of the verses round about that really feature
different ways in which this statement is then considered.
Behold,
I have come.
We'll look at the phrase
in more detail in a moment.
But these words,
as they are applied
in the Old Testament
to Jesus prior to his coming into the world,
I mean,
you can really see that
these are words which were in the mind of God,
and in the mind of the Son of God
from all eternity.
That they were words which he had himself in mind
prior to their fulfillment
in his coming,
in his incarnation,
in his being born into the world.
In other words,
they're words from the throne of God
that have really reverberated down through history
until actually they came to be fulfilled
when he actually came physically into the world.
Remarkable thing itself, isn't it?
That he uttered these words from the throne of God
all the way from eternity through history
until the New Testament age
when he came,
having taken our nature.
In other words,
he uttered these from the throne
and then left the throne
in order to become the servant of God
in this world.
And at this time of year,
though it's not by any means
the only time we think of it,
it is desirable
and it's important
that we give emphasis
to certain aspects of the incarnation,
of the coming of Christ,
the coming of the Son of God,
and seek to set that out
before the world in which we live
and move and work and breathe
so that we can hopefully draw people's minds
to the relevance of the whole Bible
in terms of the way it reveals
the importance of the incarnation,
the person of Jesus,
of the work that he came to do.
Now, these words that I've mentioned
in verse 7,
behold, I have come.
Some of the older translations have,
behold, I come, or am coming.
Those who know something about Hebrew grammar
tell us that these words are actually
what Hebrew has as a prophetic perfect.
And we're told that that actually means
they are spoken in such a way
that's so certain
as if it had already happened.
It's not yet happened
in the days of the psalmist
here in the Old Testament,
but they're put in such a form
that's making it so certain
and so sure
that it's just as if
it's already been accomplished
and happened.
Remember something similar,
though it's not in Hebrew,
it's in Greek,
in the Lord's Prayer in John 17,
where he's there,
not yet having died,
not yet having gone out
to his trial
and subsequent crucifixion,
and yet he is there
in prayer to the Father,
saying,
I have finished the work
which you gave me to do.
In other words,
it's a certain
in the mind of Jesus,
it's a certain
in the way in which
he speaks of it
as having been done
as if it had already
been accomplished.
Scripture here is also
giving us something similar to that,
where it says,
Behold,
I have come.
It's from the point of view
of being future,
and yet it's certain
in the mind
and purpose of God.
So let's see
what it says
about his coming.
Why did he come?
What's involved
with his coming?
First of all,
he came to fulfill
the types
and promises
of the Old Testament.
You'll find that here
in verse 6.
Sacrifice and offering
you have not desired,
but you have given me
an open ear,
burnt offering
and sin offering
you have not required.
Then I said,
Behold,
I have come.
In other words,
he's saying,
here are the Old Testament
sacrifices
that always represented
Jesus in his death,
and the psalmist
and the psalmist is saying,
they're no longer desired,
they're no longer relevant,
even though that hasn't yet happened.
It doesn't mean by this
that God has given up
on accepting sacrifices
throughout the Old Testament.
What he means is
these are themselves
going to actually
be done away with,
and they're going to be
done away with
because they're going
to be fulfilled
in the coming,
in the person,
in the work
of the Son of God
in our nature.
Hebrews chapter 10,
we read that
a few minutes ago,
and I may remind you
of what it says
from verse 8,
where,
having quoted
from this psalm,
from verse 5,
he then said,
Behold,
I have come
to do your will.
When he said above,
you have neither desired
nor taken pleasure
in sacrifices
and offerings
and burnt offerings
and sin offerings,
these are offered
according to the law.
Then he added,
Behold,
I have come
to do your will.
He abolishes the first
in order to establish
the second.
He abolishes the first,
that is,
that system of sacrifices,
in order that he would
actually establish
the second,
and what is the second?
It's the doing
of the will of God
by Jesus,
his Son.
He abolishes the first,
not just in order
to accomplish the second,
but also he abolishes
the first,
because the second,
the coming of Jesus,
the doing the will
of God,
the Father,
by the Son,
has actually meant
these are no longer required.
They were shadows,
they were preliminaries,
they were representations,
important as they were,
but they are no longer
required.
So that's what the psalmist
is really drawing
our minds to,
in terms of the
Levitical sacrifices,
having been accomplished
as they were in Christ,
and here it's as if
that's really already
happened,
because it's prophetic
of the Lord's coming.
And you see here
in verse 7,
then I said,
behold,
I have come.
And the then is important.
One of these little words
we could easily just
skip over
if we thought
it wasn't just much
than a connecting particle.
And it doesn't just mean
something that happens
in consequence
of something else.
You know,
you use the word then
in that sense
as we use it
commonly in English.
if this is the case,
then this is what follows.
It's a consequential
sort of particle.
But actually here
it's rather to do
with time fulfillment.
In terms of the processing
of God's plan
and in God's time,
when this had come about
that the sacrifices
and offerings
were no longer needed
because Jesus himself
had arrived,
then I said,
in these circumstances,
circumstances,
in that context,
the Lord himself,
Jesus,
is saying,
behold,
I have come.
I am coming to replace
and to fulfill them.
You recall that
Galatians chapter 4
has something very similar.
In chapter 4
and verse 4
of Galatians,
Paul is saying there,
but when the fullness
of the times
had come,
God sent forth
his son,
born of a woman,
born under the law,
to redeem those
who were under the law
so that we might receive
adoption as sons.
And when the fullness
of the time
was come.
And that's why you find
in Psalm 40 here
that there's a reference
to the book.
Behold,
I have come
in the scroll
of the book
it is written of me.
What was that book?
What is the book here
the psalmist
is prophetically
setting out
and what were
the contents
of that book?
Well,
the book
essentially
is not
a book
literally
as such.
It's actually
a reference
to what we can call
really the divine plan
or the will
of God.
He's going to speak
later about
doing the will
of God.
And that's all
already in the book
in the mind of God,
in the plan
of salvation
that God himself
has devised.
This is written,
he says,
about me
in the scroll
of that book,
in the purpose
of God,
in the mind
of God,
in the plan
of God,
the plan
of redemption.
All this
already
has been
inscribed.
Metaphorically
or spiritually
speaking,
that's already
in the book.
It's been drawn
up by God
and it awaits
in the psalmist's
time
to be
worked through
and fulfilled
by the coming
of Christ
himself.
And
there's also
an importance,
we mention this
word quite a
number of times
in the course
of studying
various parts
of the Bible,
this word
behold
in verse 7.
And we've
referred to it
as it really
is
in a sense
it's a
spotlight,
a spotlight
in a literary
sense
this is
God's
way of
actually
drawing
attention
to things.
Whenever you
find the
word
behold,
whether it's
here or
in the
New Testament
version of
it,
that is
always
drawing our
mind to
something
really
important,
something we
cannot afford
to miss.
And what
he's saying
here is
here's the
spotlight,
the sacrifices,
the offerings,
they're actually
now being
replaced.
Behold,
look at
this,
I have
come.
I have
come as
their
fulfillment.
And the
word
I
is
important
because
who is
speaking?
Well,
of course,
it's
God
himself.
And it's
God
himself,
more
specifically,
as the
New Testament
shows in
the person
of Jesus
the Son.
Behold,
I have
come.
God
and
that takes
us
secondly
to say
that
he came
to fulfill
the types
and promises
but he
came,
in fulfilling
these,
he came
as the
servant
of God.
I have
come.
It is
written in
the scroll
of the book
of me.
I desire
to do
your will,
O my
God.
Your law
is within
my heart.
Now,
one of
the
most
obvious
sets
of
references
to
the
coming
of Jesus,
to the
person
of Jesus
in the
Old Testament
is in
the prophecy
of Isaiah.
Isaiah,
that prophet
that presents
God in
such majestic,
such
momentous
terms,
the God
who is the
creator of
all the
earth,
who holds
everything in
his hand
and yet
the God
who is,
who condescends,
who lowers
himself to
behold the
plight of
his people
and to
come to
make provision
for them.
And it's
in that
great book
of Isaiah,
more than
any other
book of
the Old
Testament,
that you
find more
about the
servant of
the Lord.
He came
to fulfill
the types
and the
promises,
but he
came as
the servant
of the
Lord to
do that.
For
example,
chapter 42
of Isaiah,
if you're
taking notes,
you can
take the
verses down
that I
referred to.
I follow
them through
afterwards.
Chapter 42,
verses 1 to
4 there,
where you
find
comfort,
sorry,
chapter 42,
where you
find Isaiah
prophetically
saying,
behold my
servant,
whom I
uphold,
my
chosen,
in whom
my soul
delights.
I have
put my
spirit upon
him,
he will
bring forth
justice to
the nations.
Then he
goes on to
say,
he will not
cry aloud,
nor lift up
his voice,
or make it
heard in the
street.
A bruised
reed he
will not
break,
and a
faintly
burning
wick he
will not
quench.
He will
faithfully
bring forth
justice,
he will not
grow faint,
or be
discouraged,
until he
has established
justice in
the earth,
and the
coastlands
wait for
his law.
There's a
marvelous picture
there of
the God
who is so
immense,
but nevertheless
who has this
servant that he
commissions in
order to do
his will,
to carry forth
his will till
it's accomplished
in redemption.
But he does it
by this servant
who is described
as lowly,
and humble,
and gentle.
There's a
reference there
to a bruised
reed he
will not
break.
If you go to
a reed bed
and try and
walk through
it, you'll
find some
reeds there
that are
already broken,
snapped,
almost snapped
off in
half.
It's very
difficult to
then make
your way
through it
without
actually
breaking it
altogether.
Or take
it as the
burning
wick he
will not
quench.
When you
have a
candle with
a wick
burning,
and you
actually put
the light
out, it's
difficult to
do without
crushing the
wick itself.
It's so
delicate at
that stage,
having burnt
for some
time.
And all
of that's a
reference to
such a
precious,
precious thing
pastorally for
us under
the pastoring
of Jesus,
under his
own care as
our shepherd,
as our
shepherd king,
that when he
deals with us
in all our
trials and
our pains and
our woes and
our needs,
and at the
very depth of
our need,
when it
might be
all too
easy just
to present
ourselves to
him as if
we're just a
smoking wick ready
to be snuffed
out.
And maybe
that's how it
feels to us
at times.
But he
will not,
he will not
break it.
When he
handles your
life,
such as his
care and
quality of
care,
such as his
ability,
that he
comes in
order to
heal you
by his
gentleness.
He is the
great creator
whose hands
fashioned the
universe,
and yet he
comes gently
so that,
like the
psalmist
elsewhere says,
your
gentleness
has made
me great.
The
gentleness,
isn't that a
magnificent
thought?
When you
think of the
immensity and
the majesty
and the
greatness,
the eternity
of God,
that we can
say,
your
gentleness
made me
great.
The
gentleness
of God,
how precious
is that to
you and to
me tonight?
The very
gentleness of
God in
Christ that
has come to
deal with
our predicament
and hasn't
crushed us
despite our
sins or
for our
sins.
But has
come to
redeem us
and bring
us back
to himself
and restore
us and
make us into
what we
should be,
what we
were designed
to be from
the beginning.
So here
he's doing
this by
becoming the
servant of
God.
And in
that passage
in Hebrews
that quotes
this,
there's a
slight difference
there,
where the
psalm is
quoted as
in the
Greek
translation
of the
Old
Testament,
in fact,
where it
says there
that,
where it
says,
sacrifice
and offerings
you have
not desired,
but a
body you
have prepared
for me.
Now that's
not in
contradiction
to the
words of
the psalm
itself in
the book
of Psalms,
but it's
an additional
feature that
reminds us
or teaches
us that he
became the
servant by
taking our
nature,
by taking
a body
and soul
to himself
and becoming
a servant
by becoming
human.
And that's
why he says
here in
Psalm 40,
you have
opened my
ear,
you have
given me
an open
ear,
instead of
sacrifices
and offerings,
I have
come and
you have
given me
an open
ear.
What does
that mean?
Well,
an open
ear is
language
that's
applicable
to a
servant
waiting for
the master
to give
his order.
And not
just ready
to hear
the master's
order,
but instantly
obedient to
that instruction.
It's the
essence of
a servant
that he
or she
wishes to
do what
the master
requires
in order to
carry out
the will
of the
master,
assuming,
of course,
that that
isn't cruel,
that it's
a good
thing that
he's being
asked to
do.
But in
other words,
the obedience
of the
servant is
very much
part of
the
servitude,
the position
he takes
or she
takes.
And in
terms of
the Lord,
in terms
of Jesus,
the Son
of God,
he is
saying,
you have
opened,
you have
given me
an open
ear,
or you
have opened
my ear.
God
and how
often in
the New
Testament,
indeed in
the statements
of Jesus
himself,
you find
this very
thing brought
out in
contrast,
he says,
to the
likes of
the kings
of the
Gentiles,
Luke chapter
22,
verses 24
to 27,
where he
speaks of
himself having
come to
serve,
not to be
served.
Mark 10
has the same
kind of
reference,
but you
remember the
context in
Luke 22,
here were
disciples
squabbling as
to who was
going to be
the greatest,
just having
an argument
among each
other,
even though
they were
approaching
the time
when Jesus
was going
to be
crucified,
here they
were,
and that's
what they
were doing,
walking along
the road
with him,
and just
in their
own minds,
thrusting out
their chests,
or making
themselves kind
of important,
and disputing
as to which
of them would
be the
greatest.
And Jesus
saying,
here,
I'll tell
you who
will be
the greatest,
the one
who is
the least
of you
will be
the greatest,
the one
who is
the servant
of all,
he's the
greatest,
for I
have come
not to
be served,
but to
serve,
and to
give my
life a
ransom
for many.
That's the
context.
And in
this passage
in Luke,
in Psalm
40,
these elements
from Luke
and other
gospels
are really
adding some
light to
what is here
already,
an embryo,
and you
can see that
it's already
included here
in principle
anyway,
in the
Psalm.
So that you
find here
in verse
8, for
example,
following on
from,
I have
come to
do your
will,
I desire
to do
your will,
oh my
God,
you see,
there's the
obedience
being followed
through.
I have
come,
I have
come to
do your
will,
and I
desire,
in other
words,
there's an
element of
delight in
that as
well,
a delight
in doing
the will
of God,
and it's
a remarkable
thing as
you look
at the
life of
Jesus,
how he
himself was
not only
conscious of
this,
but constantly
doing this.
you think
of yourself
and myself,
think of
us as
in terms
of our
obedience
to God,
is it
always
100%
active?
Of course
it isn't,
we're
sinners,
but you
look at
Jesus,
and every
single moment
of his
life on
earth as
the servant
of God,
there isn't
a single
moment of
that where
he is not
actively
obedient,
where he
is not
actively
obedient in
fulfilling the
will of
the Father.
You will
never find
an instance
where he
falls short
of that.
He doesn't
wake up
at some
times,
as it
were,
in the
morning and
say,
well,
I need
to be
obedient
today,
and then
going through
the day,
he sometimes
forgets,
and then
he has to
say,
well,
I'm here
to be
obedient
to the
Father,
I'd
better get
back on
track.
There's
nothing
like that,
because
he's
constantly
perfectly
obedient,
as the
servant
of the
Father.
You remember
in John's
Gospel,
in chapter
4,
when the
disciples
came back
and found
him talking
with Oman
at the
well,
they were
amazed that
he spoke
to the
woman,
and they
urged him
to eat
something.
And he
said to
them,
I have
food to
eat that
you know
not of,
for my
food is
to do
the will
of my
Father,
and to
finish
his
works.
That was
his food.
Not that
he didn't
need physical
food,
but that's
where his
spiritual
appetite was
always
exercised,
in being
the obedient
servant of
the Father,
for our
sake,
for our
benefit.
That's why
he says
here as
well,
your law
is within
my heart.
I desire
to do
your will,
O my
God,
your law
is within
my heart.
You see,
there's the
law of
God,
that you
find summarized,
for example,
in the Ten
Commandments.
The law
of God
is really
the expression
of the
will of
God,
his
demands
for our
lives.
And
Christ
came,
as
Galatians
4 put
it,
Christ
came to
place
himself,
or to
be
placed
under
the
law,
born of
a
woman,
born under
the law.
In other
words,
born as
a servant,
born to
fulfill what
the law
required.
And he
says,
your law
is within
my heart.
There's a
very interesting
passage again.
I'm just
mentioning these
passages.
I don't have
time just to
open them all
up just now,
but if you
note them,
you can
follow them
through easily
enough for
yourselves.
When you
remember the
way in
which Jesus
was tempted
in the
wilderness by
the devil,
you find it
in Matthew's
gospel and
Luke's
gospel.
Matthew's
gospel,
you can
see his
temptation,
the three
main prongs
of the
devil's
attack.
How did
Jesus
respond?
How did
he respond
when the
devil said,
why should
you hunger
here?
Command these
stones to be
made into
bread.
He was
hungry.
And the
devil was
seeking to
take advantage
of that so
that Jesus
would, in
an unauthorized
way, exercise
his power to
relieve himself of
his sufferings,
to relieve
himself of the
duties that he
had as the
incarnate son of
God, to yield
obedience to the
father, to the
law of God.
How did Jesus
respond?
Well, he responded
to that and he
responded to the
other two temptations
that followed in
exactly the same
way.
He took the
devil to the
book of
Deuteronomy,
the book of
the law.
And Jesus
said to him,
it is written,
that's where my
food and drink
comes from.
That's what I'm
here to do.
I'm here to
fulfill this
law for my
people.
And I cannot
step out of
the way of
obedience just
to listen,
especially to the
likes of you,
he says to
Satan.
That's
essentially what
he's saying in
the words that
he used.
He took him
back to the
book of the
law.
And that
too is for
our motivation,
isn't it?
And our
example and
our instruction
and also our
inspiration.
Because there's
one psalm, as
you know, in
the book of
Psalms that
more than any
other has to
do with the
law of God,
the word of
God, the
precepts of
God, the
statutes of
God, Psalm
119.
And there
are many, many
references
throughout Psalm
119 to
the relish the
psalmist has
for the law
of God.
And you
remember, I'll
just quote two
verses, verse
77.
Let your
mercy come to
me that I
may live, for
your law is
my delight.
And then
there's verse
97 as well.
Oh, how I
love your
law.
It is my
meditation all
the day.
And if that
was true as
it was for
the psalmist,
how much
more so in a
perfect fashion
was it true for
Jesus?
He could say
that at every
moment of his
life, oh, how
I love your
law.
It is my
study all the
day.
I'm here to
do it to
accomplish its
requirements.
He came to
fulfill the
times and the
promises.
He came to
do that as
the servant
of God.
But the
psalm here
tells us
thirdly, he
came to
announce the
good news.
He came to
announce the
gospel, in
other words.
Because there
you have it in
verse 9 and
10.
I have told the
glad news of
deliverance in
the great
congregation.
Behold, I have
not restrained my
lips as you
know, O
God.
I have not
hidden your
deliverance within
my heart.
I have spoken of
your faithfulness
and your
salvation.
I have not
concealed your
steadfast love
and your
faithfulness from
the great
congregation.
And you could
really take
these words,
the great
congregation, as
indicative really
in a sense of
all humanity.
Jesus, through
the gospel, is
declaring the
steadfast love,
the gospel, the
good news, the
salvation of
God.
Now, he
himself, of
course, is the
embodiment of
this.
Some people will
say, well, we
shouldn't really
focus as much on
Jesus preaching as
on Jesus being the
substance of what we
preach.
He himself is the
good news, the
gospel.
And there's a sense
in which that's
true.
But it's also
true that Jesus
very deliberately
preached the
gospel.
For example,
Matthew 4,
verse 17,
interestingly enough,
after the way in
which he had
overcome the
devil, from
that time,
Matthew says,
Jesus preached.
Jesus preached
about the
kingdom of
God.
So Jesus,
not only did he
preach, but
that's what he
preached.
He preached
the kingdom of
God and
preached,
therefore,
his own
coming in
relation to
that.
He came to
announce that
good news.
Jesus knew
where he had
come from,
who he was,
where he was
going back to,
back to heaven.
He knew what he
had come to do,
why he had come
into this world.
That it was to
die the death
of the cross,
that it was to
fulfill the
types, the
sacrifices,
of the Old
Testament time.
He came as
the servant of
God, to
yield perfect
obedience to
the will of
God.
He came to
announce and
to represent in
himself the
kingdom of
God, claim
of God over
human life,
and the call
of God through
the gospel to
come to be
citizens,
subjects of
that kingdom.
them.
Oh, we're
better some
than in
John's gospel
chapter 10
and verse 10.
In contrast
to the false
shepherds,
I have come,
he said,
that they
might have
life, that
his sheep
might have
life, and
have it the
more abundantly.
May God
bless these
thoughts.
On his
word, let's
conclude by
singing in
Psalm 40
from the
scripture.