Thank you for coming out to hear.
Maybe the Lord will give me something to say. Turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. I brought
a message the other night in Danville. I titled the message,
Life. Life. What is it? I find that most people who talk
about it don't have a clue what it is. Folks who profess it separate
it from where God says that it is. And I find that very few
people even know what the life that this book talks about really
is. And I don't know of anything
in my own experience that I question more than that. I don't want
to miss it. And I told them this, whatever
it is, nothing else much is going to matter if you miss this. It's
not going to matter if you miss this thing called life. But anyway,
in that message, I quoted a scripture here out of Hebrews chapter 9. Kind of impressed my heart and
I thought I might speak to you on that subject tonight. Now
let's read a few verses of scripture here in Hebrews chapter 9 beginning
with verse 24. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the
truth, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence
of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest entereth into the holy place
every year with blood of others. 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. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him."
That's my subject tonight. "...unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin, unto salvation. Now, if you read carefully the
book of Hebrews, you're going to find four appearances of Christ. There's three right here in Hebrews
chapter 9, but you can find four appearances of Christ if you
read this book of Hebrews carefully. I find in the first chapter an
appearance before the foundation of the world. where he appears
with the triune God as they come together and from, for lack of
a better word, struck hands and formed the covenant of grace. I don't know how to talk about
eternal things, do you? I don't know. I don't know how
to. Somebody said if you're going
to say it, just say it. We talk about the council halls
of eternity and Brother Don Fortner, He likes that term old eternity,
but whatever you want to call it, God is eternal. He has no
beginning. But I believe He puts these things
in here and breaks them down on our level that we might understand
them. And so He talks about a beginning,
even though He is the beginning. And so you find this here in
this first chapter of Hebrews. Listen to this here in verse
10. You find here an appearance. of the Lord Jesus Christ in eternity
when God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit stated, declared, whatever you
want to call it, the everlasting covenant of grace and formed
this covenant, struck hands between the three. And he says here in
Hebrews chapter 1 verse 10, And thou, Lord, in the beginning
has laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the
works of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest,
and they shall all wax old, as does a garment. And as a vesture
shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed. But thou
art the same, and thy years shall not fail." The apostle John,
in the gospel according to John, he said this. In the beginning
was the Word. That's how he states it. The
Word of purpose, the Word of revelation, the Word of redemption,
the Word of grace. You can go on and on and on.
The Word was in the beginning. And the Word was with God and
the Word was God. Everything that God is purposed
to say, everything that God is purposed to do, Everything that
God has purposed to show, he vested in his Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and he did it from the beginning. I preached down in
Houston the other night out of Isaiah chapter 45, where he said,
Look unto me and be ye saved, for I am God, and beside me there
is none other. And I told him that the thing
in that particular place, he uses several things through those
chapters in the 40s there in Isaiah. But in this particular
chapter, he sets himself aside as alone, as God, as Savior. The God of this world talks about
saving. He makes plans to save. He makes
big purposes to save. He lies and deceives about saving,
but only God saves. Only God saves. And then in the
next chapter, he tells them this. He said, I declare the end from
the beginning. That's what we're talking about
right here. And from ancient times, the things that are not
yet done. Well, what things is he declaring? What things is he talking about?
He's talking about redemption. He's talking about His Son appearing
on this earth in the form of a man as a substitute, going
to that cross despite what men and angels and devils have to
say about it, despite what circumstance happens. All of these things. And He declares
it from the beginning. And He sets aside His deity and
He says, here it is, I declare the end from the beginning. I
am God. You look unto me, look unto me. Turn with me to Psalm chapter
1. Back yonder in old eternity,
as Don would say, when the triune God took counsel between themselves
and formed this everlasting covenant of grace, they struck hands and
agreed that Christ would be the mediator of this new covenant. and accomplish everything that
that covenant demanded to be done. Now listen to this psalm. He says, Why do the heathen rage,
and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth
set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against
the Lord and against His anointed, saying, Let us break their bands
asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth
in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision,
then shall he speak unto them in his wrath. And in his displeasure," and
listen to what he says, "'Yet have I set my king upon my holy
hill of Zion, I will declare the decree the Lord hath said
unto me, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee." Now,
this is not talking here. This begatting that he's talking
about here in Psalm chapter 1 is not that begatting that took
place in Bethlehem out of the womb of a virgin. This begatting
here is an eternal begatting of the mediator. God said from
eternity. Thou art my son this day, this
day from the beginning. Thou art my son this day have
I begotten thee. And I've set him on my holy hill
in Zion. That's my purpose in the begatting. That's my purpose in setting
him on this hill. And none of the kings of this
earth and none of the villains of this earth and none of the
devils in hell are going to take him off that hill. Take him off that hill. begatting of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then here in Hebrews chapter
1, it says, God, who at sundry times and in divers manners faking
time passed unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these
last days spoken unto us by his Son. Now listen. Whom he hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds,
the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his
person. God said, I've appointed him
to the task. When did he do it? From the beginning,
from the beginning. Can you see him as he appears
in eternity, appointed of God, this God-man, this mediator,
this one set aside of God, in whom God vested all of his glory,
all of his purpose, all of his will. Everything that he intended
to do, he gives into the hands of this mediator from the beginning.
Over in Ephesians chapter 1, he said, in whom God first trusted,
then we trusted. I reckon if God can trust him,
I can. Salvation is not the result of
creation and circumstance. Salvation is the reason for it.
It's the reason for it. All things, Paul said, were created
by him and for him, and he is before all things, and by him
all things consist. He's the head of the body, the
church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have the preeminence, for it pleased
the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. That's what
I'm trying to get across to you. Back yonder in eternity, God
set him up. and put everything in his hands.
Do we believe that? Do you believe that? Do you believe
God put everything, bested everything in his hands? And why do we look
everywhere else for it? It's in him. It's in him. Christ appeared in eternity chosen
of God, appointed of God, trusted of God to be the one mediator
between God and men. All right, now look here in Hebrews
chapter 2 verse 14. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, He also likewise took part of
the same, that through death he might destroy him that had
the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who
through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Well, verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore, in all things it behooved
him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a
merciful and a faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God, to make reconciliation for the sins of his people." John
put it this way, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And he said, and we saw his glory.
The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. His second appearance was as
the surety, as the guarantor of this everlasting covenant.
God set him up. He said, this is my surety. This
is my mediator. This is my king. I put everything
in his hands. Creation, providence, salvation,
it's all in his hands. And then in time, he brought
him forth. He appeared on this earth in
the body of a man, born in Bethlehem. That one who was eternally begotten
was begotten of a virgin and laid in a manger." Laid in a
manger. This promised one. This promised
one. I don't know. I went through
the Scriptures with a fellow the other night. He said, I was
talking to him about this thing of knowing God. You can't know
God apart from this propitiation of Christ. You can't do it. God reveals himself in him. You can't know mercy apart from
this mercy. This is where it's at. You can't
have life. This life's in his Son. And they're
talking about being born again at eleven years old and then
somewhere down the road. Then they hear the gospel. That's
not possible. There is no life independent
of Christ. This life is in His Son. The
way we have life is that we have the Son. It's Christ in you,
the hope of glory, and it's a hope. Paul said if you've already got
it, what are you hoping for? We hope for it. If I had it in
its essence and in its purity and in its maturity, I wouldn't
lie. I wouldn't have an evil thought.
I wouldn't be angry. I'd be like Christ. I want it. I desire it. And I have a hope
for it. But I ain't flown saved yet.
Are you? I'm looking for it. Looking for
it. And this is what happened. He
came forth. He was born of a woman, made
under the law. Made like us. He took not on
himself the nature of angels, seed of Abraham, was as the surety and guarantor
of the covenant of grace. And he comes as a representative
man, a substitute for sinners. He came to accomplish the will
of God. What is the will of God? What
is the will of God? Well, I believe the will of God
is to redeem a people for the glory of his name. That's what
he says. He says it over and over and
over in the scripture. That's my will. That's my will. And Christ said I come to do
his will. That's why I'm here. Listen to this in Hebrews chapter
10, verse 5. Listen to the scriptures. When
he cometh into the world. Now, he's not talking about when
he was born, that tiny baby, that that little baby said these
words. That's not what this is talking
about. What this is talking about is his appearance. It makes a
statement. It makes a declaration. His appearance
in Bethlehem made a statement, and this is what the statement
says. When he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice an
offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me.
That's what that says. There's no other reason for him
to appear. He didn't appear to judge the
world. The world's judged already. It's already condemned. Already
condemned. He didn't come here to condemn
the world. He came here to save. And he makes this statement by
his appearance, that sacrifice and offering, God's not satisfied
with it. Not satisfied with it. But he
prepared me a body. And then he says in verse 7,
then said, I, lo, I come. Now listen to this. In the volume
of the book it is written of me. Start writing about him back
there in Genesis chapter 3. When he came to them in the garden,
he started, this is where this started, right here. Started
talking about it. In the volume of the book it's
written of me to do thy will, O God. That's what it says. That's
what he come to do. And that's what you and I can't
do. He didn't say he came to attempt to do it, or make a way
to do it, or make it possible for everybody to do it. That's
not what he said, is it? He said he'd come to do it. He'd
come to do it. He'd come to accomplish the very
will and testament of God. And in the doing of God's will,
in the accomplishing of God's purpose and grace, He took away
the first. He took away that first priesthood. He took away those first sacrifices. He took away that first revelation. He took away that first priesthood,
that first covenant of law and work, and he established the
second. He established it. What is the second? That's that
covenant of grace and mercy, that covenant of redemption and
justification. And in the doing of the will
of God, he sanctified us, it says, through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And by this one all-sufficient
sacrifice, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.
That's what he says there in Hebrews chapter 10. His appearance
on this earth was that of a prophet to teach, to reveal, to declare
as the Word. That's what, you know a word,
I had an English professor in the church down in Louisiana.
When he teaches class, the first thing you do is go up on the
blackboard and put a mark. And he'd say, what is that? And
they'd say, that's a number one. No, he said, that's not what
that is. Well, that's an I. He said, no, that's not what
that is. And they said, well, what is it? He said, it's just
a symbol. But it can mean the number one or it can mean the
letter I. He said that's what words are. Words are just vehicles
to carry a thought from one person to another. His name is the Word
of God. And there's no revelation, no
understanding, no knowledge apart from Christ. No knowledge. This is how God, His purpose
to communicate His glory is through His Son. And that's how He begins
this book of Hebrews. In these last days, He's spoken
unto us in the Son. That's what it says, if I understand
the meaning of it. And his appearance on this earth
was as a priest to represent man in things pertaining to God. His appearance on this earth
was as a king to establish his kingdom and rule in the power
and glory of God, to take what was given him. To take it, it's
his. Israel came into Canaan. God
gave it to him as a gift and they went in and took it. It
was occupied. His people are occupied and he
comes and he takes what's rightfully his. He takes what was given
him by promise and he glorifies God in the taking of it. He glorifies
God. And this man, after he'd offered
one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool." As a man, weak and frail, had to be fed. Can you imagine? Paul said, "...in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." Yet he had to be cuddled. He had to be fed. He had to be
sheltered from the storm. He had to stand by the fire to
be warm. As a man, weak and frail, tired, he knew what being tired
was. He knew sorrow, pain, suffering. As a man, made under the law,
he obeyed that law in every jot and tittle. And he did it in
motive and thought and deed. He waited on God to supply his
needs. He never complained. I wish I
could say that. He never complained. His obedience is my righteousness. Is that an oversimplification?
Well, that's it. That's just it. His obedience
is my righteousness. And listen to me, you can't separate
his obedience from his death. Listen to this. And I know it's so. His death
was the crowning obedience of his life, his death. Now listen
to this. Paul said he humbled himself
as a man and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. So this righteous substitute
took to himself our sins, bare our sins in his own body on the
tree. It says in 2 Corinthians 5.21,
he was made sin for us who knew no sin. And then in Hebrews 9,
verse 14, it says that by the blood of Christ, who through
the eternal spirit, I'm paraphrasing now, offered himself without
spot to God, fulfilled his office as a mediator of the New Testament,
that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions,
we which are called might receive the promise of our inheritance.
That's what those verses tell me. Now watch this, Hebrews 9,
24. For Christ is not entered into holy
places made with hands, which are the figures of the true,
but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God
for us. He came as a substitute, appeared
on this earth before God who appointed him, and accomplished
what God appointed him to do. And then he left this earth and
he appeared in the presence of God, that's what this is saying,
by his own blood, by his own righteousness, on our behalf
as our great high priest, as that one mediator of God appointed
from the very beginning. And he stands in the presence
of God on our behalf. Now the picture here, I believe
is one of the old high priests of Israel. The people there were
commanded to take a sacrifice, pin it up, examine it, look it
over, check for blemishes, check for spots, check for impurities. Make sure this thing is the firstling
of the flock. Make sure that this thing meets
the requirements of God's sacrifice. It's not going to be accepted
unless it's perfect. So you better look it over. And
so they did. They put it up so many days.
And they looked at this. And then they took their sacrifice
and they carried it to the priest. And they handed it to him. This
sacrifice. Here's my sacrifice. Here it
is. I've examined it. I'm confident
that it meets the requirements of God. I'm handing it to you.
And then the high priest takes it, and he does what's required
of him to do, and he takes that blood and goes beyond that veil,
and he pours out that blood on the mercy seat. And everybody
stands outside the gate. They couldn't go in. They were
out here, and he was in here. And here they are in Israel,
and they're standing there, and they're looking. What are they
looking for? They're looking to see if he's going to come
back out from under that veil. Now, that's what I believe Paul's
getting at here in Hebrews chapter 9. They were to bring that sacrifice
to the priest. The priest would perform the
duties required, take the blood within the veil and pour it out.
And all who brought their sacrifice stood at the gate. watched and
waited for the high priest to return. And then when the priest
come out, he'd raise up his hands in the air and he'd bless the
Israel of God whose sacrifices were accepted of the Lord by
faith. And then he'd bless them. He'd
bless them. Now I preach to men and women
concerning the Israel of God, spiritual Israel. And I point
those men and women to Christ. I do everything in my power To
get away from the church and get away from this and get away
from the law and get away from work. And I just keep pointing
them to Christ. Come to Christ. Life's in Him. Life's in Him. The purpose of
God's in Him. The will of God's in Him. I just keep pointing them. And I tell them, like Moses,
what God demands. Perfection. holiness, righteousness,
justice. Is the Christ you worship, does
He meet the demands of God? Does He meet the demands of God's
sacrifice? Then it must be another Jesus. I know people think you're splitting
hairs when you start talking about these things. A fellow
told me the other day, I was talking to him and he said, I
get it. I get it. Now, where do we go from here?
I said, you don't get it. If you got it, you wouldn't be
looking for anywhere else to go. There is nowhere else to
go. It's all in him. All in him. And that's why I point. I just
keep pointing. I don't know what else to do. I haven't got it.
You just have to keep pointing to Christ. Come to Christ. I
told him the other day, I'm not trying to sign you up. I'm going
to give you a test. When I'm done preaching, nobody's
going to give you a test. You don't have to pass your test.
I'm not trying to get you to join an organization or a club
or the church or anything else. I'm preaching to you, pointing
you to Christ. If you don't want to come to our church, go to
another one. It's all right with me. It's all right. But go to
Him, wherever you go. Come to Christ. All who brought that sacrifice,
they stood outside the gate and watched. I point men to Christ and I tell
them, like Moses, what God demands, perfection, holiness, righteousness,
justice. I tell them, like Moses, why
the sacrifice is to be offered, because of sin. We're sinners.
We're sinners. I used to hear Brother Barnard
and Brother Mahan talk about preaching on sin, and I forget
which one of them said it now, but one of the two said it. It
doesn't really matter. He said, I think I just need
to stand up and just preach on sin about six months. Just preach
on sin. Well, he said, I can't find any
sinners. Sinners by birth and by nature
and sinners by choice. All of our righteousnesses is
filthy rags and that which we highly esteem. That's hard to
imagine, isn't it? What you highly esteem. God said
it's an abomination. The very fact that you highly
esteem it in his presence is an abomination before God. That's
what he says. Live in sin, born in sin. We need a priest. That's what
he keeps telling us. You have to have a priest. You
have to have a sacrifice because you're sinners. You're sinners. And I point them, as I have to
you tonight, to the Lord Jesus Christ, to his priesthood appointed
of God, his sacrifice ordained of God, his blood set forth of
God as a propitiation. Did you ever read that in Hebrews
chapter 3 carefully, what he says there? Whom he hath set
forth. Who set him forth? God did. How
did he set him forth? A propitiation. Why did he set
him forth? To declare his righteousness.
Why would he do that? That he might be just when he
justifies guilty sinners. Now that's what the gospel's
all about. Right there. Set him forth. God set him forth. It's not up to me to set him.
It's up, he set him forth. All I can do is set him the same
way he did. And we need him. That's why he
set him forth. We need him. We're poor and needy. We need a priest. We need a sacrifice. And I point them as I did you
to his priesthood, to his blood set forth of God as a propitiation. And I tell him about eternity. I tell him about his eternality. And I tell him about his appointments
and his offices and his incarnation and his appearances and his righteousness. I tell him about his righteousness
being the end of the law. and his death effectual to put
away sin. Put it away. I can move it around,
but I can't put it away. I've put it around most of my
life, but I can't put it away. He put it away. I try to tell them about their
need of those things and of the urgency involved and of the consequences. And I tell them that God commands
all men everywhere to repent and believe on his Son, none
other name given among men, whereby we must be saved. And those who believe, they bring
Christ by faith, and they plead his blood and plead his righteousness,
plead his willingness, and plead God's purpose in him to save
sinners. And some of them find him. Some
of them find him. I had a young man. He was sitting
about where you're sitting, Granny. He was sitting about there. He'd
been coming for a while. He'd count the ceiling tile,
and every now and then you'd see him do this. He's dozing
around. One day God got a hold of him.
And boy, he sat up. I don't know what exactly he
heard that I said, but he started hanging on that pew, and his
knuckles was white. He'd just hang on there. Every
word you said, he'd hang. Boy, he would turn into them
scriptures. He didn't even know where the books was. He'd have
to go back over to the index and find them. But he'd find
them. And he'd get over there. Next thing I seen, he had a piece
of paper. He's taking notes. But boy, when you get down to
the end or tell an illustration or something, he'd just hang
on that pew on every word. Then he started calling me. Oh,
he said, I'm in a mess. I'm in a mess. I don't know God.
I don't know God. He said, I can't find. I know
you talk about his willingness and I know you talk about these
things, but he said, I can't find it. I can't find anything
to make God show me favor. That's why they call it sovereign
grace. Yeah, you just have to wait on him. Have to wait on
him. But oh, I tell you, after a while,
you begin to see that he's more willing to save than you are
to be saved. Oh, some of them find Him, rest
in Him, hope in Him, see Him alone able to go beyond the veil
on their behalf. Somebody has to go before you.
You don't want to come into the presence of God on your own.
You don't want to do that. No man can look on me and live,
he says. You don't want to do that. You
don't want to meet God as He is and as you are. You want to
meet Him in a substitute. You need this high priest. You
need somebody to go for you beyond the veil. Somebody that you can
trust in. I tell you, some of them old
false priests they had back then, I don't know if I'd have handed
them a lamb or not. But I tell you, you bring this
lamb, this lamb, declared in his gospel, the perfect lamb,
the lamb without spot or blemish. Valley foreordained and slain
before the foundation of the world. You bring him, hand him
to the priest. Oh, and he takes him in, inside
the veil. Now listen to this here in Hebrews
9, 28. So Christ, you know what that word means? That's that
promised seed that he talked about way back yonder in the
garden. that promised woman, that promised seed. So Christ
was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that
looked for Him. You take everything that you
need, everything you hope in, you vest it in Him. That's what
faith is. You can't see Him with these
eyes. It takes eyes of faith to see Him, trust in Him. And
one by one, old Paul, he was a religious man. He took all
of his religion and all of his past experiences and all that
hogwash that we hang on to. When he got a sight of Christ,
he took it all out, threw it on the dung heap. And he said,
now, he said, I've got one hope. And I'm pressing toward that
mark. That's who's looking. Who stood there and looked for
the high priest to come out from under the veil? Those who've
vested their hope in that blood and in that priest. Who's looking
for his return? Those who've vested all they
are, all their hope, in that blood and in that priest. And
they're waiting on him. And he said, unto those who look,
can we look? Can we look? He appeared the
second time, and Scott this time, without seeing. unto salvation. Oh, God, give us grace to look. Our Father, we thank You for the gospel of Your sovereign
grace, the gospel of Christ. We have a sight of that glory.
Give us a greater sight, a clearer sight. And excite these dull
hearts in expectation We wake up in the morning. God give us
a stir these hearts to go look out the window looking for him,
desiring his return. Mourning about this world, about
sin, about this flesh. Give us eyes for Christ and a
heart for him. We ask you for Christ's sake.
Amen.