HOW MUCH DID JESUS REALLY LOVE US?

MF Blume
October 16
, 2016


Psalm 40:6    Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
Psalm 40:7    Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,
Psalm 40:8    I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

Hebrews 10 quotes this passage, but changes one phrase.

Heb 10:5    Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith,
Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
Heb 10:6    In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
Heb 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.



Instead of saying MINE EARS HAST THOU OPENED, we read A BODY HAST THOU PREPARED ME.

When we read about EARS OPENED, it literally says in Hebrew "Drilled or bored".
•    So, it reads: “Mine ears thou hast bored.”

And the boring of the ear is found in a ritual from the Old Covenant and reveals a spiritual picture of why the wording was changed in Hebrews.

And this message shines through the truth of the cross.

•    It shows how much extreme love Jesus has for the church.
Here is that ritual:

Exodus 21:1    Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.
Exodus 21:2    If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
Exodus 21:3    If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.
Exodus 21:4    If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself.
Exodus 21:5    And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:
Exodus 21:6    Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.

The Hebrews could not be made slaves of their own people.

Just workers.
•    God set them free from slavery in Egypt and He will not allow His own people to make anyone in their nation another slave again.
•    But a temporary means of servitude was allowed under circumstances in which someone owed another a debt he could not pay.
•    He would be a servant not a slave.
•    But the time could only last for 6 years at the most, and shorter if a jubilee year came around, much like the concept of the sabbath where the seventh year freed him from his service.
•    His debt would be considered paid in full after those 6 years as well.

However, there was one hitch.

•    And the presence of this detail in this law seems odd, but can only be understood through the understanding of the cross.
•    If the man came into the service as a single man, and married a woman in the service of the master, and had children, he had to leave after 6 years without the wife and children.

To ease the pain and obvious hardship that such a man would experience in leaving his family, there was an option to take.
•    He could choose to forfeit his liberty and all his rights to be free and become a love slave.
•    He could choose to forever remain a servant at his own volition.
•    If he did, he would experience the ritual of the boring of his ear.
•    He would place his ear to the door of the master's house and would have it bored through with an awl.
•    It would forever remain as a sign of his choice to remain a servant the rest of his life.
•    It was as if he was attaching himself to the house.
•    The idea of the ear symbolized Committing himself to HEAR every command of the master and be fully obedient to do so.

We read of the same law here:

Deu 15:16    And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee;
Deu 15:17    Then thou shalt take an aul, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise.

He would sacrifice his freedom.
•    It would all be due to the love he had for his master wife and children.

This is the basis for the statement in Psalm 40 concerning Jesus.

It reveals the unbelievably powerful truth of the love Jesus has for us, and how the work of the cross saves us to the uttermost.

Psalm 40 shows the heart of God in not willing to have animal sacrifices and burnt offerings.

And then someone speaks up and says He came to fulfill God's will.

Hebrews 10 provides a revelation about what that was all about.
•    This applies to Jesus.
•    Again we see the Father being satisfied with the Son.
•    Hebrews reveals that it involves covenants.

Heb 10:1    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.
Heb 10:2    For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
Heb 10:3    But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
Heb 10:4    For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Heb 10:5    Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
Heb 10:6    In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
Heb 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.

The Law was involved with multitudes upon multitudes of sacrifices.
•    Law existed for 1,500 years.
•    And it was only a shadow of the good things that were going to come.
So, Jesus came to put an end to all of that.

His sacrifice would perfect the offerers.

Heb 10:14    For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

That offering of Himself so satisfied God the Father that it forever perfected us.
•    It actually caused God to change covenants.

And it also did this:

Heb 10:16    This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
Heb 10:17    And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Heb 10:18    Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
Heb 10:19    Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
Heb 10:20    By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
Heb 10:21    And having an high priest over the house of God;
Heb 10:22    Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
Heb 10:23    Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

Think of how holy Jesus must have been for his sacrifice to accomplish all of that.

How pure and holy was the sacrifice of Jesus for it to move God to forget our sins, after 15 centuries of sacrifices from the old covenant did not accomplish anything close to it?
•    Hebrews 10 opens up the ultimate degree of obedience that His sacrifice was based upon.

When the wording was changed from MINE EARS HAST THOU OPENED to A BODY HAST THOU PREPARED FOR ME, we see the connection of the sinless body of Jesus being so sinless due to his absolutely perfect obedience, SIMILAR TO THE SACRIFICE OF OBEDIENCE OF THE LOVE SLAVE.

As the ear was pierced, the body of Jesus was pierced on the cross.

•    His death is understood to have been ultimate OBEDIENCE in the New Testament.
•    OBEDIENCE is the common denominator between Jesus' sacrifice and the sacrifice of the love slave.

Php 2:8    And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

His obedience was so complete he obediently went to the cross to die.
•    Part of him did not want to when he prayed “Let this cup pass from me.”
•    But He said, “Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.”
•    OBEDIENCE.

Heb 5:8    Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
Heb 5:9    And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

The only way his sacrifice could be so perfect is for him to have not committed a single sin in his entire life of over 33 years.

Joh 14:30    Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.

All those years He lived, the devil had NOT ONE BIT OF GROUNDS in him.

2Co 5:21    For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Heb 4:15    For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Heb 7:26    For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;

33 years and not a single sin.

•    All because He prepared Himself to be the perfect sacrifice.
•    He knew he would be sacrificed for our sins, and that required sinlessness.
•    The love slave was involved with a marriage and a master.
•    In Jesus’ case, these two aspects are clearly there.
•    Imagine Him thinking during every moment he lived and was tempted that he had to be sinless so he could HAVE HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN.
•    The CHURCH is the bride of Christ.
•    The Master was His Father.
•    And the love he had for the children who are all believers baptized into that death He would die.
Imagine the commitment of LOVE to be THAT obedient and live that sinless of a life!

We often span across those 33 years he lived and not appreciate the weight of OBEDIENCE He lived under.
•    The unbelievable LOVE for us that moved Him to do that!
•    Think of that much love that He was able to NOT COMMIT A SINGLE SIN.
•    Every temptation that came made Him stop and remember HE HAS TO REMAIN SINLESS.
•    We read about God as so loving the world that He gave His only Son.
•    But that same God as SON so loved us and loved the Father that He lived that degree of obedience to cause God to change entire covenants, totally forget our past sins, make us new creatures, and open up heaven for us to so intimately dwell with Him!

In one fell swoop that single sacrifice removed the need to keep so many laws that would render a man righteous if he could obey them all, and have God GRANT US righteousness without works.

But we don’t stop to think of all the 33 years he lived THAT HAD TO BE WITHOUT ANY SIN AT ALL.

Imagine how holy God is that He is repulsed a million times for at the least sin we can imagine compared to how much we are repulsed by the grossest sin we can imagine.
•    And that sacrifice moved Him to forget, let alone forgive, all our sins.
•    Make us kings and priests.

That is the degree of love that Jesus has for us.

Exodus 21:5    And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:

Translate that to Christ's life:

Exodus 21:5    And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not sin one single sin in my entire lifetime in flesh. I will be THAT obedient so that my death is so pure and holy that it will move the Father to forgive and actually FORGET the sins of everyone baptized into my death. I will change covenants by my holy death.

And we condemn ourselves for our pasts and ask God to forgive us in the name of the one who lived such a perfect spotless life, all so His death into which we are baptized is so satisfying to God in obedience that God forgets, forgives our sins, and changes covenants to no longer require burnt offerings and sacrifices ever again.

•    To end 15 centuries of sacrifices, and sacrifices that go back before the Old Covenant another 2,500 years -- 25 centuries.
•    40 centuries of sacrifices!

We think we have to live so perfectly, when God looks at one thing only -- the death and obedience that made that death so perfect, of Jesus Christ.

•    Stop looking at how much you can perform to please God.
•    Our best deeds are microscopic nothingness by comparison.
•    Look at how perfect and obedient Jesus was the next time you consider whether or not God loves you, and realize that He loves on the basis of how much obedience Christ accomplished in his sacrifice for YOUR SINS.
•    How could we ever feel like losers again after knowing what God considers when he looks at us?
•    When the devil tries to inflict doubt upon you for God's love, knowing this you can laugh hysterically at him now!

Now you can appreciate this next verse far more than ever before:

Rom 8:34    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.

God looks at the intercession Christ makes for us when we struggle, and remembers the sacrifice He made so perfectly due to such absolutely perfect obedience, and blesses us again and again!

We think He looks for our good deeds to bless us?

He only looks at your for YOUR CHOICE to believe the WORK OF THE CROSS!
WHEN HE SEES ME HE SEES THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB.
•    He sees THAT much obedience in Christ that you are in union with and LOVES YOU THAT MUCH!

Rev 1:5    And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
Rev 1:6    And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Rev 5:8    And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
Rev 5:9    And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
Rev 5:10    And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

O how He loves you and me, O how He loves you and me,
He gave His life, what more could He give?
O how He loves you, O how He loves me,
O how He loves you and me.


SERMONS