May it please God to bless us
together this morning as we consider his word. Let's turn to the epistle
of Paul to the Hebrews, chapter 9, and we'll read the last two
verses, verses 27 and verses 28. That's the epistle of Paul
to the Hebrews, chapter 9, and reading verses 27 and 28. 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 shall he appear the second time without
sin unto salvation. It is very clear from the word
of God that there is an appointment for everything that occurs in
this world. There always has been and there
always will be. There was an appointed time when
you and I should be born into this world and it came to pass. And as certain as it was that
you and I should be born into this world, as certain also it
is that there is an appointment that you and I should be here
this morning. And it's an amazing truth to realise that we have
a God who has ordained all things. And so we have this statement
before us, 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 shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." It is important
for all of us to recognise such a statement as this. The Word
of God is very wonderful and it's very truthful and it gives
us the complete picture There's nothing lacking in the word of
God. So we have this statement here this morning, and it is
appointed unto men once to die. And of course it is appointed
to each one of us. We tend to think, don't we, that
when such words are spoken, well, it somehow doesn't have an effect,
or it doesn't actually speak to us. There's many other people
who no doubt this word speaks to. It's difficult for us to
actually take such a word to ourselves. But there are times
in our lives when the Spirit of God applies such a truth that
we realise that we are the person and that we would have to die. And when that time comes, as
the word tells us, but after this the judgement, where shall
we stand in that situation? We are appointed to die because
of that truth which the Apostle tells us in the 6th of Romans,
verse 23, where he says the wages of sin is death. It is because sin entered into
the world. If there had been no sin, there
would have been no death. But because there was sin, there
is death. And that death has passed on
to every human person, every animal, everything that is given
life. Death comes upon them. And so we have this statement
here this morning. And as it is appointed unto men,
once to die. And of course death is something
which naturally we fear. We fear it because it's the unknown. We don't know really what is
beyond death, do we? We have some pictures of it in
the word of God, written word, which give us some idea of what
heaven will be like, give us some idea what hell will be like.
But of course we don't actually have a direct knowledge of it. And so it is something which
naturally we do fear. And we will fear, and it's right
therefore, that we do have a right fear of these things. But it's
also good if the Spirit of God has conveyed to us the wonderful
blessing and evidence that we do possess the life of God in
our souls. So that when we come to die,
it will be well with our souls forever and ever. And although
we do have to face the reality of it and it brings fear into
our minds, yet to have that fear to a large extent allayed by
the evidence of the work of God in our hearts. Now it may be
that there are those who perhaps are not concerned and they're
not worried. Many people in the world, they pretend that they
don't worry about death. I don't believe That's true in
anybody's life. I believe everybody to a certain
extent must be concerned about what happens to them when they
die. People don't like to admit it.
They're very brazen. They're gospel-hardened. They
listen to what the devil tells them. But in essence, of course,
everybody has a conscience and everybody knows that they are
a sinner and everybody knows they have offended a great and
high and almighty God. So this truth is relative to
every single person and as it is appointed unto men once to
die. It's appointed for you, it's
appointed to me. Each one of us will come to that
place where we will die. We will die. Something we can't
avoid, can we? Nobody has ever been able to
avoid death. People have tried to avoid it.
People try to extend their life. God gives life and God takes
life. And there is therefore this appointed
time to die. And you and I won't be able to
put it back. We won't be able to extend our
life. No, the time which God has ordained will come to pass. And you and I will have to die. It's a very important consideration
and something we shouldn't pass by. And I suppose the devil would
say, well, you don't want to think about those kind of things,
especially if we're young. Don't be morbid, just think about
your life and well, later on you can consider that. Because
we don't know what a day nor an hour may bring forth. And so it's right to consider
such things as this. We're thankful We should be thankful
the Word of God contains words like this to alert us to the
truth of this situation. It is appointed unto men once
to die. And as it's appointed unto men
once to die, the Apostle then says, but after this. the judgment. The judgment. We don't go into
a place of nothing. We go either into that place
of heaven or into that place of hell. And it's a very solemn
thing because we shall be then immediately judged. We shall be judged of what we've
done, things that we have not done. There will be of course
that that true great day of judgment in time to come, but nevertheless
there will be that judgment and we shall be judged and we shall
be found then in that situation having to stand before our God. The Apostle, when he wrote to
the Romans, he tells us in the 14th chapter, for we shall all
stand before the judgment seat of Christ. So that would be initially
And also on that great day of judgment, when all the world
will be there, we should all stand, every single person, before
the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, as I live,
saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall
confess to God. So then, every one of us shall
give an account of himself to God. And it's a very true situation
Everyone will bow down before God and it would be a wonderful
thing for you and me, if in our life on this earth, we bow down
to God. That means we acknowledge the
Lord is the true God. To acknowledge He is our God
and that we desire to bow down before Him and to do His will. You see, everyone on that great
day of judgement will bow down. All those hard-hearted sinners
who have declared they will never believe in the true God. Everyone then will not be able
to say such things, they will realize in the presence of that
majesty, that holy majesty on high and they will indeed bow
down before almighty God. Every knee shall bow to me and
every tongue shall confess to God Every tongue then would have
to acknowledge, there is a God. There is a God. You know, there
would be no atheists then. Most people who are proud of
being atheists in this world today, there would be no atheists
on the Day of Judgement. They'd all recognise those things
which they said were false. They were wrong. They were hoodwinked
by the devil himself. And then on that great day, there
they are standing. before the judge of all the earth,
bowing down and confessing indeed that there is a God. And they
are sinners indeed. They won't be able to justify
themselves. They won't be able to look at themselves. They'll
be utterly condemned before a holy and a righteous God. When the Apostle John was on
that part of, on that place of the Isle of Patmos, you know,
he had a view, he had a view of heaven. And in a view of the
Day of Judgment, in the 20th chapter, we read, And I saw a
great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the
earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place
for them. And I saw the dead, both small and great, stand before
God. And the books were opened. And
another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the
dead were judged out of those things which were written in
the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the
dead which were in it. And death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them. So you see those who, when they
died, went to hell, they will then be brought to this day of
judgment. And hell delivered up the dead
which were in them, And they were judged every man according
to their works. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whoso was not found written
in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. So we see the Apostle John had
that solemn view and it was a solemn view of the truth of God's word
and it came to pass. So we're thankful today that
we have this word before us this morning, and it's appointed unto
men once to die, but after this to judgement. So we're not ignorant
of the truth of God's word, and how therefore we need to have
the evidence of God's work in our hearts, and that we are saved
by His grace, and that Christ has indeed died for us. So therefore we can go on then
to this last verse. 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. We read together in this ninth
chapter of the wonderful work of the Lord Jesus Christ and
how through his shed blood, he was able to enter into the holy
place, there to intercede for his people. It's a wonderful
thought, isn't it, today, that now we're on the earth, we have
a God, a great God, let us never underestimate the greatness of
God and the holiness of God, who is high and lifted up. We
always need to have a right view of Almighty God. But as we have
a right view of Almighty God, we can be so thankful today that
we have the Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour, who has entered
into that holy place, not without blood. Entered into heaven, not
without blood. He shed His blood that we might
have that good hope of eternal life. Indeed, as we read together,
without shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness, there's no remission,
this was the ordained way of God. And no doubt, the Church
of God, down through the ages, from Adam right up to the death
of Christ, and perhaps after that for a while, there was great
ignorance of what the shedding of blood really meant, what it
really pointed to, what faith those people needed to be able
to look beyond those ceremonies to see the glory of the mediator,
the selectoning saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessing
it was if they did see that and were given faith to believe it.
And now today, in this Gospel day, what a privilege is ours.
My friends, let us not underestimate the wonderful blessing that we
have of the explanation of these things to our souls. So that
today we know that all those situations and ceremonies which
were held so very carefully and accurately in Old Testament times
were done away in Christ. And we have today a great and
glorious Saviour. Well, my friends, we have to
ask the question, do we not, what does Christ mean to us today? Christ's name is known throughout
the world, isn't it? Christ's name is blasphemed throughout
the world. People take the name of Christ
in vain. How solemn and how sad. I wonder if you and I take the
name of Christ on our lips as our only hope of salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ does indeed
mean something to us. He's not just a name. He's someone
who is very real and very precious. And to know that Christ was once
offered to bear our sins. We read here, so Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many. And to have the evidence that
you and I are amongst the many. that Christ came to die for. If we're not amongst the many,
then we are lost. There's no hope for us. We're
eternally lost. We shouldn't underestimate the
terribleness of such a situation. It's not something that you and
I can afford to trifle with. It's not something that you and
I can think, well, that's not very important. It is the most
important thing. that you and I have to consider,
to realise that Christ was offered for our sins. He died in our
place. It is vital. It is most important. You know, we spend our time,
don't we? Largely on the things of time.
Because we live in time. We have to earn our living. We
have to work. We have to study. And all these
things are right and nothing wrong with them, but the most
essential thing is to know that Christ was offered to take away
our sins. And that won't be just in a theoretical
way. It will mean that these things
are made over to us, that we have the evidence of it in our
own hearts. And the evidence of it in our
hearts is only there by the work of the Holy Spirit of God. So my friends, it is something
that you and I should desire and covet earnestly. We are told
to covet earnestly the best gifts. And this is one of the great
gifts, the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, revealing to us
the Lord Jesus Christ. We read together this morning
this very precious chapter in the ninth of Hebrews and it is
a very glorious chapter and I hope you followed it through and I
hope you were able to understand at least in a natural way what
occurred in the Old Testament in the temple and of course as
it followed on with the tabernacle and how there was the holy place
and the most holy place and how that signified so clearly in
the most holy place, the holy of holies, heaven itself, and
how there was only access into that place through the shed blood. There it had been for several
thousands of years. The high priest on the annual
occasion had gone into that holy place, not without blood, the
shed blood, the death of the animal signifying The only way
was through that shed of blood and then to have the view that
those scenes were all past. They were completed when Christ
came and died upon the cross at Calvary. I'm never weary of
thinking of that great day, that scene when Christ died. To think
of the wonder of it, the Lord Jesus finished that great work,
and what a work it was to save us from our sins, to free us
from the condemnation of the law, the soul that sinneth it
shall die, to realise on that wonderful day, and it was a wonderful
day, when the Saviour was able to utter those great words, it
is finished. What was the effect? There was
the temple, in all its magnificence, not quite as great as it was
in Solomon's day, but nevertheless, It was there in magnificence,
and what do we read? That place into the holy of holies,
where only the high priest was able to go once a year, not without
blood. That great veil, that heavy veil,
that heavily embroidered veil, with those cherubims indicating
they were looking after the security of it. And it was rent in twain,
from the top to the bottom. What a significant statement
that is, to think that it wasn't rent by man, Wonderful to think
that God rented, from the top to the bottom, no longer any
need for the entrance through that veil, because the way to
the Holy of Holies was made accessible through the finished work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Well I hope my friends this morning,
you and I can bless God and praise God that we today are able to
have access to the Father through what Christ has done as He takes
and presents our prayers. And remember, He comes not without
blood. His blood was shed, but it was
once shed for sin forever. There was no need of a continual
shedding of that blood as there had been in the Old Testament
times of that annual occasion. Of course, daily there was a
daily sacrifice But what a wonderful thing it is to know that once
was once offered, once offered, never weary of meditating upon
the cross at Calvary, never weary on what it meant, because it
was through that wonderful occasion that we have this wonderful blessing
of the forgiveness of sins Christ died, yet rather he is risen
again. And so Christ was once offered. And that was a sacrifice which
was acceptable to Almighty God. All the other sacrifices, there
was no perfection in them. There was no perfection. There
was sin in the high priest's lies, there was sin in his words.
Yes, there was sin in the animals that have been brought, they
were never perfect, they were perfect as man could perceive,
they were never perfect, there was no perfection. But Christ
came and in Christ was a complete perfection. What a wonderful
thing it is to realise that we do have such a saviour, such
a glorious high priest himself who did come and indeed enter
in. We read in an earlier chapter,
the seventh chapter, wherefore, and this is a lovely word, wherefore
he is able also to save them to the uttermost, that means
the uttermost sinner, that means the worst sinner, the most vile
sinner. He is able also to save them
to the uttermost that come unto God by him. seeing he ever liveth
to make intercession for them, for such an high priest became
us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than Avons, who needeth not daily as those high priests
to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins and then for
his people's, for this he did once when he offered up himself. For the law maketh men, high
priests, which have infirmity. But the word of the oath, which
was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore."
So we have this great truth set before us. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the wonderful Saviour of sinners. The One who gave His life that
you and I might live. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many, once offered to bear the sins of many, and
because of that, our privilege is to have that access at the
throne of grace. In the next chapter, the Apostle,
through the Holy Spirit, tells us whereof the Holy Ghost also
is a witness to us. For after that he had said before,
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 when I write them, and their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Now where remission of these
is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest, by the blood of Jesus. You think
in those Old Testament times, there was no way that people
could enter into that holy place. And now, with the glorious gospel
and the grace of God, there is that way of access. And we can
come with boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
by a new and living way, which he has consecrated for us through
the veil. That is to say, his flesh, having
a priest after, a high priest over the house of God, 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. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many. So as we think of these wonderful
condition, the wonderful position, the wonderful situation. I wonder
today if we have the evidence that we are able to come to this
God through the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy God Christ was once
offered. Now we understand and we see
the necessity and the glory and the blessing of the Lord Jesus
Christ willingly offering himself. He offered himself. Nothing less
than that would do. He had to offer himself and to
think of the willingness that Lord Jesus did that. Think of
the cost it was. It was no simple thing, was it? He gave his life and what a suffering
life it was. Again, as we think of Calvary,
we think of the cross, Meditate upon the cost of our access to
God. Meditate upon the cost, the forgiveness
of our sins, your sin and my sin. It is so important because
there is no access, there's no remission, there's no saving
knowledge without the blood of Christ and without his sufferings. What he endured, no tongue can
tell. What he suffered, as he shed
his blood. Think of the God who gave so
many. Think of the willingness. Think
of the cross at Calvary. Think of his love. Think of even
on that cross there, turning to the dying thief and speaking
to him as he cried to the Lord. In his extreme weakness, the
Lord, you see, had compassion upon that dying thief. I think,
my friends, the Lord has compassion upon his whole Church of God.
And I ought to think this morning, and to know this morning, that
he has compassion upon you, and he has compassion upon me. And
that we have been saved, and we have been delivered from the
wrath to come through this one offering for sin. So Christ was
once offered to bear the sins of many, and if you see he's
died upon that cross to atone for our sins, then you see in
that day of judgment, that great day of judgment, we will be those
who hear that great and glorious voice, come in, thou blessed
of my Father, inherit the kingdom, prepared for you from the foundation
of the earth. What a glorious word it will
be. And then you see, if we're blessed
with an understanding of this in our hearts, we'll know what
it is. Death has lost its sting because
our hope is in that finished work of Christ. So Christ was
once offered to bear the sins of many. Not all but of many
for whom Christ died. And there are many for whom the
Lord did come and die. Remember, in that high priestly
prayer, the Lord Jesus Christ prayed to his Father. He said,
I pray not for the world, but for those who now has given me
out of the world. Those for whom he came to die
for, those for whom he saved from their sins. 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. What a blessing to be numbered
amongst those who are looking forward, looking for him, look
for him. You may find this hard to meditate
on, hard to contemplate, because it's not of nature. We wouldn't
look for the Lord Jesus Christ naturally. No, because we're
earthy and earthbound. But as the Spirit of God may
move our hearts to have those occasions when we are moved to
be found looking for Him. And this of course has a double
aspect. It has, first of all, looking to Him, looking for Him,
to come and save our souls, to show us and to give us the evidence
that we are amongst those for whom He's died, There will be
that concern, there will be that desire that we may know that
he has died for us. We'll be looking for him to appear
to us as our great and glorious sin atoning saviour. When the
Spirit of God convinces of sin, shows us our condition before
a holy God, when sin lays heavy on our hearts, and I believe
And when it is so, and I believe the Spirit of God does produce
that in our souls to make sin heavy. It's not something which
is transient. It's not something frivolous.
It's not something which is just passing. The Spirit of God lays
sin upon us. We will know the condemnation
of our sin and that we will stand before a holy God and we will
bow down before that holy God And we will be condemned because
of God's righteous law. And we will need to be saved
and need to know that Christ has died for us. It won't be
something theoretical. There's much theory about today. But the reality of true religion
is to know these things in our heart, to know that Christ has
died for us and to know the work and the effect of the work of
the Holy Spirit upon us, convincing us of our sin. And as we are
convinced of our sin, we may cry out, like those who have
done in the Word of God, what shall we do? What shall we do? Well, the Apostle said, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And my friends,
that's what you and I need to do. We need to be blessed with
that grace to come to the Saviour. Come just as we are. I came to
Jesus as I was. weary and worn and sad. You may
be weary with the burden of sin. That burden may not have got
lighter, it may have got heavier. The gracious invitations that
come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. What a great thing it is, the
gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The gracious invitations
which are there, as we may be burdened and heavy laden, that
come unto him. And, he said, and I will give
you rest. How will that rest be given?
that rest will be given as we see the living Saviour dying
for us. To know that our sins, He took
upon Himself. Every sin, the black sins, every
sin, He took upon Himself and He paid the price. And the price
was the price of blood. The price of His life to redeem
us from our sin. And unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Oh,
and then have we looked to the Saviour? Have we looked to Him? You will have to look to Him,
my friends. If you haven't looked to Him, you will have to look
to Him. There's no salvation outside of Christ. If you never
look to Christ in this life, my friends, there will be no
salvation. No, you may know your need. The
great need there is. And we have a great need. But
we have a great Saviour. That Saviour who we read of is
able to save unto the uttermost. He came to save uttermost sinners. And unto them that look for Him
shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation. When
Paul wrote to Titus, he wrote those words teaching us that denying ungodliness
and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and
godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour
Jesus Christ. It will be a glorious appearing
when He comes, all the holy angels with Him. I think of that time
and it will come. No doubt about it. I'll be then
amongst those who are looking for that blessed hope. This great
God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to atone
for our sins, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us
from all iniquity, every sin, clean, washed in the blood of
the Lamb, Redeem us from all iniquity, every sin. That's good
news, isn't it? Every sin. You may have thought
sometimes that we'd committed the unpardonable sin. Well, here
we have the statement. Redeem us from all iniquity,
all sin, and purify himself. A peculiar people, zealous of
good works, believe the Grace of God, the work of the Holy
Spirit in our hearts will make us desire to follow that way
of good works and not do those things which are false and wrong.
Do those things which are right and are God-honouring. The Apostle James, he speaks
about this great day as well. He tells us in the fifth chapter,
Be patient therefore brethren unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husband waiteth for
the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it,
until he receive the early and the latter rain. Be ye also patient. Establish your hearts, for the
coming of the Lord draweth nigh." Well, it was written two thousand
years ago or so. My friends, it must be much nearer
now. The coming of the Lord draweth nigh. What is that? A fearful
thought? for us, or is it a comforting
thought? To think, yes, the day approaches
when the great God will return, and it draws nigh. And the Apostle
here tells us to be patient, and to establish our hearts,
for that day does, and will come. No doubt about it. Look for Him. And to them that
look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto
salvation." And you may remember Enoch. Enoch was a man who, we're
told Enoch walked with God and was not. God took him in those
days, relatively young, 300 odd years old, whereas most of them
were living for 900 years. And he walked with God. What
a wonderful thing. That is, to think of that. But
we read in that short epistle of Jude, he refers also to this
man Enoch. There's not much about Enoch
in the Word of God, but we have it here in Jude. And Enoch also,
the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these saying, Behold, the
Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment
upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them,
of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed,
and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken
against him." Well, he goes on, these are murmurers, complainers,
walking after their own lusts, and their mouth speaketh great
swelling words, having men's persons in admiration, because
of an advantage. Well, how evident that is today,
isn't it? If you look around, we see so many people just following
or described in that way. But, he says, Beloved, the Church
of God, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the
apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. How that they told you they should
be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own
ungodly lusts, These be they who separate themselves, sensual,
having not the Spirit, but ye beloved, building up yourselves
on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost to keep yourselves
in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
unto eternal life. Eternal life. And unto them that
look for him, surely appear the second time without sin unto
Yes, there will be the wonderful glory of that time when we shall
be then without sin. We know that the Lord has died
for us unto salvation. Our souls will be eternally safe. We shall indeed be safe in the
arms of Jesus. Well, here we have a wonderful
statement, do we not? So Christ has once offered to
bear the sins of many. May you and I today have the
evidence that this blessed Saviour, who came and died to atone for
our sins, that we have an interest in this, and unto them that look
for Him, shall He appear the second time without sin unto
salvation, that we may have the evidence by His grace that we
have looked for Him, we've come to Him, we've committed our way
unto Him, and we've found Him. Like those words in Isaiah, look
unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth for I am God
and there's none else. There's no other way. We've been blessed
with that wonderful privilege of looking unto Him. The work
of the Spirit has come upon us. We have the evidence of it in
our hearts. I have looked to the Lord Jesus Christ. My friends,
it is so, so essential that you and I have been found in that
way and that we have then been blessed with finding the Lord
as our Saviour. He means something to us and
we can therefore perhaps come in with Peter and understand
when he voiced those words, we're saved with the precious blood
of Christ. And then you see, to look beyond
that, to realise, yes, he offered to bear the sins of many, and
to then look for him, and I can look for him now, to that time
when he will come come perhaps to take me from this world, when
I die, which I know will come to pass, and to realise, as the
Apostle Paul said, for me to live is Christ, but to die is
far better, because when we die we shall go to be in glory, with
no more sin, and no more sorrow, and no more sighing, to be forever
with the Lord, through eternity, what a blessed situation that
is, and to realise when that day of judgement comes, that
last day of When the end of all things and the angels come and
say, time shall be no more, and God will come to judge every
man for things done in the flesh, we will be amongst those who
will inherit the kingdom, prepared before the foundation of the
world. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him, shall
he appear, shall he appear. It's a certain thing. the second
time without sin unto salvation. Amen.