Living Voices of the Lord's Servants brings you the Bible teaching ministry of Mr. T. Ernest Wilson, Seagurt, New Jersey. Shall we read together in the fortieth psalm, the first ten verses? I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the merry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the pride, nor such as turn aside to lies. Many, O Lord, my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us were. They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee. If I would declare and speak of them, there more than can be numbered. Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened. Burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it is written of me. I delight to do thy will, oh my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, I knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart. I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth from the great congregation. We propose to speak about the Messianic Psalms. And there are five messages that we want to bring at this time connected with them. There are fourteen songs that speak of the person and work of the Lord Jesus. And in these beautiful poetic compositions, we have a complete outline of the person and work of the Lord Jesus. It might be as well at the commencement to define what a messianic Psalm is. In very many of the Psalms, David or the author is speaking about himself. But then he's lifted out of the realm of his own personal experience and the Holy Spirit by the inspiration of God gives us a picture of the Lord Jesus in some phase of his personal work. Now, wherever we find a Psalm that's quoted in the New Testament and applied and expanded, explained in relation to the Lord Jesus, we find a messianic Psalm. I think that the clear definition would be a Psalm that's explained in the New Testament in relation to our Lord. We would like to take five sounds and speak about them in this way. Now, the one we want to look at today is the fortieth Psalm. Here's the Psalm of the Incarnation. And right on the center of it we find these words. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is within my heart. Lo, I come. Here we find the incarnation of the Lord Jesus. Now this term gives us a conference in the council chambers of eternity between the members of the Godhead. God the Father and God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. When we turn over to the passage in the epistle to the Hebrews in chapter ten, for this section of the Psalm is quoted, we find God the Father, His will, the will of God the Father. We find the work of God the Son, and we find the witness of God the Holy Spirit. And in the center of the passage, we find the Son addressing the Father, and he said, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book, it is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. The incarnation of our Lord is found in the four Gospels. we find it's looked at in four ways in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The Gospel according to Mark speaks of the King and gives his credentials, his pedigree. That long list of names in the first page of the New Testament brings before us the genealogy, the pedigree of the King. And then there's the link with the Old Testament scriptures. The Gospel according to Mark gives us the link with the messianic prophecy. He quotes five passages from the Old Testament and shows how they were fulfilled at the incarnation when the Lord came into this world. The Gospel according to Mark, the writing is for the Gentile Roman world and he admits the birth entirely, but he outlines his busy life on his service. The Gospel according to Luke describes the link with mankind. It opens with an opened heaven. on heaven's symphony, glory to God on the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. And then Luke gives us a beautiful reply of earth in the four songs that were sung by two men and two women. We find that beautiful harmony of earth, it goes back to heaven as a reply to the symphony that came from God in heaven. The gospel according to John is occupied with the glory and the majesty of the Son of God. And John just quotes one verse that explains the Incarnation. The word became flesh, unpitched his tent among us. We beheld his glory. Glory is the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So the four Gospels taken together, we find a fourfold explanation of the incarnation of the Lord Jesus. But in the song, we get the words, low I come, In the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God. The first part of the psalm from verse one through verse five, David is speaking of his own experience. He opens by saying that he brought me up out of an horrible pit, out of the mirey clay, and he set my feet upon a rock and established my going. If put a new song on my mark, he even prays unto our God. Many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord. David is speaking about an experience in his own life. But then when he comes to the Messianic passage, he leaves himself and his own personal experience. And the Holy Spirit takes off his servant and puts these words in his mouth. Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire. Mine ear hast thou opened. Forst offering and sacrifice hast thou not required. Then said I, low I come. Now I'm looking at the passage. There are four main ideas connected with the incarnation of the Lord Jesus that is spoken about here. And the first has to do with the sacrificial system we find in the Old Testament scriptures. David uses four words to describe it. And these four words are opened up for in the first eight chapters of the book of Leviticus. The words that David uses are Sacrifice and offering. Burnt offering and sin offering. These four words are different. On the bring before us, the five great offerings that we find in the first section of the book of Leviticus. They explain in detail the work of the Lord Jesus upon Calvary's cross, given in type. Now the first word is sacrifice. This word is a generic word covering all the five offerings. The second word is offering. The word actually means the meal offering, described in Leviticus chapter two. His third word is burnt offering, the highest offering that any Jew could offer to God, expressing his thanksgiving to God. And his fourth word is sin offering, covering those offerings that a Jew was obliged to bring to God when he had sinned against God. Now, in looking at the first section of the Book of Leviticus, covering the whole sacrificial system, we find that the sacrifices that were brought to God are divided into two categories. First, there was the burnt offering, and then the meal offering, and then the peace offering. These were thanksgiving offerings that were brought to God, and they're called sweet savor offerings. The idea is that a sweet savor, a sweet odor, went up to God when they were offered to him. The burnt offering speaks of the devotedness of Christ, his complete devotedness to the will of his Father. It was the highest offering that a Jew could bring. The meal offering was composed of four things. There was the fine flour, the oil that was poured upon it, And then there was the frank incense and salt. These four ingredients in the meal offering bring before the moral glories of the Lord Jesus and his life as a man here below. There were two things that were excluded. There was no honey or no leaven to be offered in the meal offering. These things bring before us the moral glory of Christ. The meal offering, his life here below in its evenness, And then the oil placed upon it, the Holy Spirit of God and the life of the Lord Jesus. And then the frankincense, that fragrance that went up to God as a result of his holy, sinless life. And then forth lay the salt, the preservative. And then the honey and the leaven were excluded from the offering. The Lord Jesus in his life here below was completely free from sin. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, lived a holy life, and when he died upon Calvary's cross, he voluntarily assumed the sins of man, but he himself was completely sinless. So first of all, there was the burnt offering, and then the meat offering, and then there was the peace offering, speaking of fellowship with God. These were sweet savor offerings, but then there were two that speaks of sin, the sin offering and the trespass offering. One speaks of the root of sin in the human heart. And the trespass offering was sins that were committed against God and against a person's neighbor. These were the five offerings. On taking all five, putting them together, we get a complete picture of the work of the Lord Jesus upon Calvary. Now the psalmist in speaking about that sacrificial system, he gives the verdict concerning them. Sacrifice and offering God did not desire. And then we read that they were not required. It was impossible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sin. The sin was covered, but it wasn't taken away. The blood of an animal was impossible to take away sin. But Christ, by one offering, has put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. So the first idea in the passage is the Levitical system. Now secondly, there's the bond servant of Exodus chapter twenty one. Sacrifice an offering thou didst not desire, mine ear hast thou opened. Here's a beautiful picture concerning the Jew, one who was in difficulty, distress or debt, and wasn't able to pay his debt. He had gone into bankruptcy, possibly through no fault of his own. And he was able to sell himself, to sell his service for six years. He became a bond servant. He became a slave to his master, the man to whom he owed the debt. The system is described in Exodus chapter twenty-one. That bond service lasted for six years. But on the year of Jubilee, or when his service was ended, he was perfectly free to go out and leave that bond service behind with his debt. Absolutely wiped out. But during the time of his bond service, if he had married and had children, if he came in with his body, that is alone personally, he had to go out alone. He couldn't take his wife and children with him. But if in the meantime he had been married and had a family, and when he went out, if he realized that he had to leave his wife and children behind, there was a ceremony that was performed. He said, I love my wife. I love my children. I will not go out free. And the bondservant was taken to the doorpost. It was a legal ceremony. The judge and witnesses were there. And he said, I will not go out free. I love my wife. I love my children. And his ear was bored through with an all. And he became a bondservant for life. So there was no compulsion. He wasn't obliged to do that. It was a voluntary act. And from that moment for the rest of his life, he became the bondservant of love. This is the beautiful picture we find in the fortieth Psalm. First of all, the sacrifice was not required. But the bondservant says, I will not go out free. Mine ears hast thou aboard. Now the third idea that we have in the passage is the Holy Scripture. Then said, I, lo, I, come. In the volume of the book it is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my God. The Old Testament scriptures give a complete outline of the coming of the Messiah, of the Redeemer. There are about three hundred references to it. On commencing with that great prophetic utterance in Genesis chapter three in verse fifteen. For the Lord God, in speaking to the guilty prayer after sin had entered, on speaking to Satan, he said, The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head. There we get the coming of the Redeemer, the promise at the commencement of human history. And then another wonderful reference is found on Micah, chapter five and verse two, where we find the place where he was to be born. Bethlehem of Judea is the place. We also find the person mentioned in the prophecy of Isaiah. Chapter seven, we find his virgin birth. And chapter nine, We also get the names of the one who was to come. His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. In Genesis, it is a promise. In Micah, chapter five and verse two, the place where he was to be born. And then in Isaiah chapter seven and nine, we get the person. Wonderful exposition of his person. Daniel chapter nine, we get the period. In that wonderful prophecy of the seventy weeks, we're told that at the end of the sixty-ninth week, we're told that Messiah, he would come and he would be cut off, but not for himself. And then in Isaiah chapter fifty-three, we get the passion of the Lord Jesus. In the volume of the book, it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God. Oh, how wonderful it is that the Lord Jesus In his incarnation, here on this earth, fulfilled these Old Testament prophecies. About two hundred of them were fulfilled at his first coming. He's coming back again in glory. And the other prophecies concerning his coming back again will be completely fulfilled in a coming day. Now the fourth expression in the passages, thy law is within my heart. This is a lovely metaphorical expression, I believe referring to the Ark of the Covenant. You may remember that the Ark that was placed inside the holy place, the holiest of all, it was overshadowed by golden cherry of him, overshadowing the mercy seat. Until that mercy seat, the blood was placed. But inside that box, that Ark of the Covenant, the two tables of the law were placed. But overshattering and completely covering the law, speaking of man's guilt and shame and sin, completely covering it was a golden mercy seat. I think that possibly this is what the passage refers to. Thy law have I hid in my heart. The Lord Jesus was the complete fulfillment of what we find in the Ark of the Covenant. The law of God was in his heart. He completely fulfilled that law. He fulfilled God's righteous requirements in his life here below. And so he could say, Thy law have I hid in my heart. These are the four ideas in this great messianic passage. First of all, the sacrifice of the Old Testament, the blood that was shed, the blood of bulls and of goats couldn't take away sin. And so he said, Sacrifice an offering, thou didst not desire, mine ear hath thy open. First of all, the sacrifice. And then, secondly, the bond servant. And then Holy Scripture was fulfilled. In the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God. And then finally the shrine. The heart of our blessed Lord here below enclosed the law. But he was the perfect fulfillment of the golden mercy seat. The one who died upon Calvary's cross and who shed his blood. He today... is the place of meeting between God and man. So in this lovely passage concerning the incarnation, we find the words lo icon and then the fourfold fulfillment of it in him, in his person and work. Now shall we look at the epistle of the Hebrews just for a moment to find how this passage is quoted on how it was fulfilled? The apostle in Hebrews ten and verse four uses these words. It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin. Therefore, when he cometh into the world, he said, Sacrifice and offering, thou wouldst not, but of body hast thou prepared me. Notice the change from the bored ear to the body. When the bond servant came in, he came in with his body. He went out with his body. But when he took that position of being a bond servant of love, the bond servant for life, his ear was bored. on the person who has the bored ear, the body was at the complete disposal of the master whom he loved. So in Hebrews the word ear is exchanged for the word body, a body of thought prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, lo I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God. A book when he said, Sacrifice an offering, unburnt offering, On offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hath pleasure therein, which are offered by the law. Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God, he taketh away the first, that he may establish the second, by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. On every priest standeth daily, ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sin. But, oh, how marvelous the following words. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, Saddam, on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his food still. For by one offering he hath perfected forever, them that are sanctified. What a marvelous result we have here of the incarnation of our Blessed Lord. The one who fulfilled the fortieth psalm, fulfilled it to the latter. We find that here in his work on Calvary's cross, he completed that great work of sacrifice. The blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. But his precious blood, the blood that he shed upon Calvary's cross, it was the offering for sin to end all sacrifice. There's no need to offer a blood sacrifice today. That one sacrifice that he made, was complete and God is completely satisfied with the work of his Son. In the Old Testament the word is atonement, that is a covering. But in the New Testament the word is propitiation, that is satisfaction. God is completely satisfied with the word of his Son. Notice too that it's a completed work. Every priest stands a daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sin. The priest had a stand. He could never sit on. There was no seat of any kind in the tabernacle. In the Old Testament, the priest is never seated. But in the New Testament, our great high priest, the Lord Jesus, when he finished the work upon Calvary's cross, he sat down at the right hand of God. It is a completed work. Then again, in the Old Testament, The sacrifices were offered only cover the sins of ignorance. Willful sin was not covered at all. But we read here that Christ, by one offering, he perfected forever as them that are sanctified. Oh, how great this word is, how complete it is. The work of Christ upon Calvary's cross has completely fulfilled the Old Testament scriptures. And by his death upon the cross, he has made satisfaction for sin. And for that reason, the gospel goes out to earth through Moses' bond. Oh, my God, bless His word to each one of our hearts. And may we realize that the work of Christ is complete, and God is satisfied, and we can be satisfied, too, through trusting in Him for our salvation.