Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program. I'm glad
you could join us. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to continue where I left off last
week in the book of Hebrews chapter 9. And the title of the message
today is Christ Bearing the Sins of Many. And that's taken from
verse 28, the very last verse of this chapter. So Christ was
once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look
for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. But we'll go back up to verse
23. We've been talking about the
old covenant law, which was ratified by the blood of animal sacrifices. which could never take away sin. We read that in Romans, but Hebrews
10, 4. It's not possible that the blood
of bulls and of goats should take away sins. But these things
were pictures. The blood of animals were pictures,
types, foreshadowings, or illustrations you might say, symbols, of the
blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. And all of the sacrifices
of all the animals throughout that 1500, think about that. That old covenant was in effect
from Mount Sinai, when Moses received the law from God, all
the way to the cross. That was a time period of about
1500 years. And think about all the blood
that was shed in animal sacrifices. You see, it wasn't just one time
a year. Now, each year, every year, they
had the Day of Atonement, which was the most important day on
the Jewish calendar. And on that day, the high priest
of God would take the blood from off the brazen altar, bring it
into the holy place, and then go into the holiest of all, and
he'd sprinkle that animal blood on the mercy seat. And that was
a picture of salvation by the grace of God through the blood
of Jesus Christ. So all that animal blood that
was shed down through the agents Not just one time a year, but
weekly, monthly, even daily, there was bloodshed. That could
never take away sin. Animal blood couldn't do it.
But the blood of Jesus Christ offered one time on the cross,
put away all the sins of all the chosen people of God, the
elect, the church, His sheep. that where all those, where the
sin debt was imputed, charged, accounted to Christ. He bore
our sins in His own body on the tree. That's what the scripture
says. And if you look back at passages
such as Isaiah 53, which illustrates all of this so beautifully, you
read things like this. It says, surely, this is Isaiah
53 and verse four. Listen to this. Surely He hath
borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. the griefs of his
people, the sorrows of his people. Verse five says, he was wounded
for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement
of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed. Christ went under that wrath
of God. for the sins of his people. And
it says in verse six of Isaiah 53, all we like sheep have gone
astray, we've turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord
hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all. Or literally, the
Lord made the iniquity of us all to meet on him. Now how is
that possible? You know, sin, and people need
to understand this, It's almost like you need to do a study of
sin from the scriptures. Sin is not a substance. Sin is
not some kind of a germ. or corpuscle or amoeba or anything. Somebody wrote a book years and
years and years ago talking about how sin is in the blood. And
that's why a lot of denominations or some denominations, they won't
take blood transfusions. But that's not how sin is transferred. Sin is not a solid, a liquid,
or a gas. It's not something you drink
or eat. Remember Christ taught his disciples
that. It's not what goes into the body that defiles you, it's
what comes out of the heart. Sin is a heart matter. Sin is
in the thoughts, the motives, the goals of a person. Sin is falling short. of the perfection of the law,
of righteousness. That's what it means when it
says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. In
other words, no matter how good we try to be or how successful
we are in reaching our goals, we still fall short of the perfection
of righteousness that can only be found in Christ. Sin is transgression
of the law, trespassing the law. Sin is not equaling. It's iniquity, unequal. The measure, the standard is
the righteousness of God in Christ. The Bible says in Acts 17, 31,
that God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the
world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, in
that he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath
raised him from the dead. Now that's why in Matthew 7 verses
21 through 23, those false preachers who stood before Christ at the
judgment, and they said, Lord, Lord, haven't we preached in
your name? Haven't we cast out demons? Haven't
we done many wonderful works? Only to hear him say, depart
from me, I never knew you, you that work iniquity. And what
he was telling them is this, what you're pleading at judgment
as the ground of salvation does not equal the perfection of righteousness
that God requires. I'm preaching in his name right
now, but my preaching is not my righteousness before God.
I still fall short in my person, in my works. And if I've never
cast out demons, but if I ever did, that couldn't be my righteousness
before God. Wonderful works, miracles. If
I could perform miracles, which I can't, but if I could do that,
that's not my righteousness before God. What is my righteousness?
Who is my righteousness? Where is my righteousness? Christ
alone is my righteousness. His obedience unto death. My
sins were charged to Him. The Lord laid upon Him the iniquity
of us all. Now that's not all without exception,
but that's all of His people, His sheep, God's elect as indicated
by the fact that God brings them to faith. And so Christ is my
righteousness. His righteousness has been imputed
to me. And so when it says the Lord
laid upon him the iniquity of us all, it's talking about the
sin that was imputed, charged, accounted to Christ. And he paid
the debt in full by the sacrifice of himself, his obedience unto
death. Now go back to Hebrews chapter
nine. It says in verse 23, It was therefore necessary that
the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with
these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices
than these." Now there was a pattern given to Moses, and it was all
in the illustrations of the Old Covenant. You had the tabernacle
and all of its furniture, the priesthood. You had the blood
of animals. And these patterns, these types
and pictures were ceremonially purified with the blood of animals.
Not actually purified, but ceremonially, typically. But the heavenly things,
the reality of the benefits and blessings of salvation, they
were purged, they were bought and paid for, let's put it that
way, with better sacrifices. And what were those better sacrifices?
Well, look at verse 24. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands. Christ did not come into the
earthly tabernacle or temple because only the priest could
do that. You remember how the temple and
the tabernacle was sectioned off? You had the outer court,
where the brazen altar was, and other people could go in there.
But then you had the inner court, the holy place, which only the
priestly tribe of Levi could go in. And then you had the very
innermost chamber, the holiest of holies, the holy of all, holiest
of all, which only the high priest, a descendant of Aaron, could
go in one time a year with the blood of the Lamb. So Christ
was not of the tribe of Levi. He wasn't a physical descendant
of Aaron, according to the flesh. Christ was of the tribe of Judah,
the royal tribe, in his humanity, that is. In his deity, he had
no ancestors because he's the eternal son of God, the second
person of the Trinity, without beginning, without end, the Alpha
and the Omega. That's the blessed triunity of
God, one God. Three persons, father, son, and
spirit. So in his deity, he had no ancestors. He had no generation. He's always
been. But in his humanity, he was made
of the seed of David according to the flesh. He's called the
branch of Jesse, David's father. And that was through the tribe
of Judah, the royal tribe. Remember, it was prophesied by
Jacob on his deathbed of Judah, the scepter, the king's scepter
would not be taken. It would remain with Judah until
Shiloh come. Peace, that's Christ. Christ
ended that line and ended that royal line. He's the king of
kings and the Lord of lords. So it says that Christ is not
entered into the holy places made with hands, men's hands,
which are the figures, the types, the pictures, the foreshadowings,
the symbols of the true. But into heaven itself, Christ
entered heaven itself when he died on the cross, he kept the
law and he died on the cross, he was buried, he arose again
the third day, and then he ascended into the heavens All right. And He sat down at the right
hand of the Father ever living to make intercession for His
people. And He says, but into heaven
itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. For us. Now who's the us there? That's
His people. who are brought to faith in him
in repentance of dead works. Verse 25, nor yet that he should
offer himself often, you see, the animal sacrifices were offered
every day, every week, every month, and on the day of atonement,
one time a year, nor yet that he should offer himself often
as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with
the blood of others. That's the high priest on the
day of atonement. Verse 26, for then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world, but now once in the end of the
world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. Now again, understand what it's
saying. Those priests, they had many priests of Levi. Each year
you had one high priest in each generation. And so they had to
go in every, all the time, and even that high priest had to
go in once a year, 1,500 years, you might say. They could not
accomplish what Christ accomplished in his obedience unto death as
the God-man, God manifest in the flesh, as the one great true
high priest of God's spiritual kingdom, Israel, spiritual Israel,
He only had to do it one time. He offered himself one time. And it says this over in Hebrews
chapter 10. Let me read you this in verse
10. It says, Hebrews 10 and verse
10, by the which will we are sanctified, set apart. Now this
is talking about true believers. God's elect Jew and Gentile who've
been brought to faith in Christ, by the witch will, by God's will,
we are sanctified, set apart through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once. Once. Now it says here, if you've
got a King James version, it says, once for all. But the for
all is in italics, meaning that was added not from the original
manuscript, but the King James translators added it. And it's
okay. But when you read that, it says
the body of Jesus Christ once for all, and you read it all
without exception, you're reading it wrongly. Those for whom Christ
offered himself shall be saved. And we know the Bible teaches
that not all without exception will be saved. The majority will
perish in condemnation. So you could read it this way,
once for all his sheep, once for all his elect, or you could
do it this way, once for all his own, or once for all time. But the point that's being made
here is not how many Christ died for. Now we're gonna see that
he, as the title of this message indicates, he bore the sins,
not of all without exception, but of many. How many? I don't know. It's however many
from the beginning of the world, from the fall on to the second
coming of Christ, who are brought by God to believe in Christ. Now however many that is, that's
the many. But what he's saying in this
passage that Christ died one time, not many times, but once
for all his people. And if you look down at verse
14 of Hebrews 10, look at this, for by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Now, who are the sanctified?
First of all, by one offering. Well, let's talk about the one
offering of Christ in His obedience unto death on the cross. By His
one offering, He put away all the sins of His sheep. He died
for the sheep. He says that in John 10. And He died for all whom the
Father had given Him before the world began. Their names were
written in the Lamb's Book of Life before this world was created. And he says in John 6, 37, all
that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. I've heard people argue
against elects and say, well, that means if I want to come
to Christ and be saved, if I'm not elect, God won't let me in.
No, that's a stupid way of putting it. If you desire to come to
Christ and be saved, that means you are one of God's elect. Else
you wouldn't desire that. Now you might desire salvation,
but you won't desire it God's way by His grace through the
one offering of Jesus Christ. So anybody who wants salvation
God's way will and can have it. That's true. Because they're
one of God's elect. They're one of His sheep. But
he says by one offering, the one offering of himself, he hath
perfected, he completed it, he satisfied it, he fulfilled all
conditions forever. Them that are sanctified. Now
who are the sanctified? It's those who were set apart
by God. And how were they set apart?
They're set apart before the world began in God's election
of grace. He chose them. Paul wrote that
in 2 Thessalonians 2.13. He said, we're bound to give
thanks, beloved of the Lord, because God had from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit
and belief of the truth, wherein he called you by our gospel.
They're sanctified in Christ when he died on the cross. Romans
chapter six speaks of that. That if you're one of God's chosen
people, That if you're one whom God sanctified, when Christ died,
He died as your representative, your surety, your substitute,
your redeemer. So that when He died, you died,
legally. When He was buried, you were
buried. When He arose again, you arose again. Your sins were
charged to Him and His righteousness to you. And then you're sanctified
by the Spirit when you're brought under the gospel and given life
and faith and repentance to believe in Christ and turn away from
the world and self. Now look back at Hebrews chapter
9. Christ appeared the first time,
His first advent, His first coming, to put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. How is sin put away? How is it
purged? How is it paid for? By the one sacrifice of Christ.
And look at verse 27. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment. Now as it is appointed,
Who appointed this? God did. As it is appointed unto
men once to die, that's the physical death. The wages of sin is death. We can talk about death in all
of its aspects. There's physical death. When
Adam fell, God told him, in the day that you eat thereof, you
disobey God, die and thou shalt die. Adam didn't die immediately,
but the process of physical death began then, and he eventually
died. Well, it's appointed unto men
once to die. We're gonna die, physically. And it says after that is the
judgment. I heard a funeral message years
and years ago, and I've used it because it's a good message.
It talks about the four certain things. Number one, we all have
a life to live. For some, it's long. Think about
Methuselah, 969 years. Most people today live into their
70s, maybe their 80s. For some, it's short, cut down
in the prime of life. Some even die as infants. But
death is the consequence of sin. That's what it is. But we have
a life to live, and when we're talking about those who live
into adultery, how are we gonna live it? We have a death to die. How are we gonna die? There's
only two ways to die. You either die in your sins and
perish, or you die in Christ and live with Him forever in
glory. So you have a life to live, a
death to die, you have a judgment to face. Now the judgment, the
final judgment, is not a judgment set up by God to determine whether
or not you're going to heaven or going to hell. That's already
been determined. The Bible speaks of that in Romans
9 when it talks about vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy. And so what will the judgment
do? It will be a declarative judgment,
a declaration of the reality of what and who we are. Those
at judgment who stand on their own without Christ will be judged
by their works and found guilty. And it will be declared before
the whole universe and they will be sentenced to condemnation. And those who stand before God
in Christ, washed in His blood, clothed in His righteousness,
it will be declared that they are justified and they'll live
forever in the bliss of glory with God in Christ. So in verse
27, it's appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment. So you have a life to live, a
death to die, a judgment to face, and an eternity to spend. Now, how are you gonna spend
eternity? Well, that depends on whether or not you're in Christ
or on your own. So he says in verse 28, so Christ
was once offered to bear the sins of many. Now that's how
we understand that judgment is of God on the basis of the death,
burial, resurrection, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ
was once offered, not many times, and He bore the sins of many. How many? As I said, however
many God chose to save. Now, I know people don't like
that. They say, well, God should have chosen to save everybody.
Well, if he did, the Bible doesn't teach that. And if he did, everybody's
gonna be saved. Mark it down. God's will is going
to be accomplished in the salvation of his people. The Bible says
in 2 Peter 3, 9 that he's not willing that any should perish. That's any of his people, any
of his chosen people. You say, well, it doesn't say
that. Read the context. That's who Peter's writing to,
the elect of God. And what he's telling them there
in that passage is the reason this world is going on and has
not been destroyed yet by the second coming of Christ is because
God still has a people yet to be brought into the kingdom as
evidenced by their faith in Christ and their repentance of dead
works. And if you want to read about
that, read passages like Philippians chapter three, where Paul talks
about how everything that, when he was lost, spiritually dead,
in his religion, false religion, he thought that his works, his
heritage, his sincerity recommended him unto God. saved him and kept
him saved. But then when he saw the reality
of God's requirement of perfect righteousness, which can only
be found in Christ, he said, all that I thought was gain,
I now count it loss for Christ. And I desire now to be found
in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the faithfulness of Christ
to obey the law and die for my sins, and that righteousness
which is by faith, which we receive by faith. So look at Hebrews
9, 28. When He comes again, He won't
come bearing the sins of His people. They've already been
put away. He'll come in glory to receive them up unto Himself. and to appear before the Father
for them, all based upon that sacrifice, obedience unto death
that He accomplished. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
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today and may the Lord be with you.