and complete dependence upon
the Lord for all needed help this evening. I wish to direct
your prayerful attention to the epistle to the Hebrews chapter
9 and our text this evening is found in verse 28. The epistle to the Hebrews chapter
9 Verse 28, 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. 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. Some years ago when I first came
to the South, I remember going to London, one particular day
visiting various spots, Bunhill Fields. And another place, quite central,
was of course the chapel that was originally founded by one
John Wesley. And it was very interesting that
the minister, who obviously had a very public presence in the
place, was walking round and speaking to various people and
he made my acquaintance and in conversation I remarked some
of his sermons were published actually which is quite unusual
I suppose for that denomination we were discussing matters of
doctrine and the conversation turned to
penal substitution at which he went drip white and said to me,
I find it abhorrent the very idea that the Lord would pour
out His wrath upon the Son. Dear soul, there is no gospel
without penal substitution. There's no gospel without it. How can one be made righteous
if the penalty of sin is not met? The penalty of sin must be met
either in our own person at the judgment seat or in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no in-between. Now, this
doctrine of substitution was considered to be an orthodox mainstream, if you want to use
that term, Protestant point. But has since, probably in the
last 50 years, come under scrutiny with so-called celebrity preachers. saying the opposite, Steve Chalk
and the like. I won't go into any more of them.
You know who they are. You know who they are. But the
Word of God is clear. Now, before we venture into our
text, we must by necessity consider the context. As you know, these
days I tend to continue with verses or preach from the same
verse twice. This is somewhat different tonight
but we do have a continuation in respect that this morning
we were considering the seven feasts that are found in Leviticus
and this evening we come to the epistle to the Hebrews which
makes these things clear. Somebody I have occasionally
corresponded with and here preach, was traveling and somebody saw
him reading his Bible and this man, been a professing
man, went to speak to him and said a few things and he says,
I've always struggled with understanding the sacrifices and all the various
aspects which we find in Leviticus and the answer was wonderful
he simply said read the epistle to the Hebrews and you find the answer and it
is very helpful if we read through Leviticus and then immediately
read through the Hebrews we can see so many of these things become
clear to us and have we not even this evening
read of that subject and that principle of a better covenant,
of better principles, of these things being fulfilled. And that's
what we come to. That's what we come to. The date
is not insignificant. We're speaking around the time
of AD 60, AD 64, 65 perhaps, within that range. not long before the fall of the
Temple at Jerusalem. And thus there was a great deal
of confusion at Jerusalem. Because Hebrew Christians were
coming under pressure to go back to the types and shadows. and thus we can see that nothing
has changed some years ago somebody gave me a booklet attempting
to Christianize all the Hebraic feasts and ceremonies I was so
stunned I couldn't say anything which isn't a usual thing for
me but I couldn't say anything I was so amazed that somebody
would even think such a thing but thus here we have it friends
there is always an attempt to carnalise the things of the gospel
and thus here we can see that, in my view, it's the Apostle
Paul. We can see by the style of writing that it's the Apostle
Paul. I know he doesn't introduce himself
at the beginning, but it was not necessary that he should.
Indeed, his preaching by this time would have been well-known, well-established. There was always
great opposition to it. and thus he need not introduce
himself. But he's writing, and his concern
is this, and is this not always the concern of the ministry? That hearers would be established. That people
would be established. Believing people would be established
in the truth. Is that not the real problem
with our own contemporaries in our own denomination. They're
not, generally speaking, established in the doctrines. And thus Andrew
Fuller comes along with his followers of the present day and they're
whisked off, carried about with every wind of doctrine. And thus
we can see, as we come to our text, the true meaning of this
free grace gospel. So Christ was once offered. Now that word Christ, of course,
means anointed. And you'll notice that in the
Old Testament that word anointed also means Christ. The word anointed tends to be
used more, particularly in the prophecy of Isaiah and the minor
prophets and so on. But really, it's speaking of
the anointed. You may say, well what's the
significance of that? Well isn't Christ greater than Aaron? You
see here, this is the difference. This is by divine appointment.
The Lord has sworn by Himself who He is and that He is the
Saviour. It was against the law for somebody
to be king and to be priest in the Old Testament covenant. And
here he is, king and priest. This is the declaration. Again,
within the context, these things would be made clear in the days
of the early church. They would be well established
and they would know these things. We have to be reminded of them. The priesthood following in Aaron's
line until the day of Moses. But the king and the priest were
always separate. Here they come together in the
one person. And you see this is the one truth
is it? Not that we believe. That word priest intercessor, one who stands between,
one who speaks on one's behalf. There has only ever been one
priest and thus, today, when the poor man of Rome stands
at the front, he is utterly redundant, finished. before he even starts, because
Christ was once offered. And so, by necessity, it won't
be a surprise to you that we have to consider this
once offering. Now it was a once offering within
the context because of course in the days of the Mosaic economy
there were those feasts that we mentioned this morning and
there were those feasts that also took place quite separately
to that once a year. Going into the holiest of holies
and so on and so forth. And as we can see and as we've
considered those things all speak of aspects and elements of the
gospel that are fulfilled here. They're fulfilled here. Verse
24, "...for Christ is not entered into the holy places made with
hands which are the figures of the true but into heaven itself." Remember! Remember! That it's the same body of the
Lord glorified now in heaven. And thus, suffering, bleeding,
dying, His resurrection, His ascension, all these things are
done. These sacrifices These shadowy
forms took place continually. But again, you see, they never
quite fit, did they? Shadows were exactly that shadows.
Here is the fulfillment. And thus, we have to consider what it is meant to be once offered. now as we've said the Lord swore
by himself this is a covenant promise a coming together that there would be this sacrifice
for sin and that the demands of the law
would and should be met but it's in the covenant of the
Trinity is it not? The Father, the Eternal Father,
the Eternal Son, and the Eternal Spirit. Christ, now being obedient, even
unto death, offered Himself. You see the difference, friends,
between, the only difference, Joseph Irons points this out, The only difference between his
death and ours is his was a voluntary death. He was body and soul a man, very man and very God. But his death was a voluntary
death. Our death is as a result of the Fall. And thus Christ's
death was an offering. That's the difference. An offering. Now, what is this offering in
connection to? We find this in the following
words. Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. So there we have penal substitution,
do we not? But we also have an offering
that is singular. What I'm saying is this, to then stand in front of a congregation,
as many will be doing, they'll probably be doing it down the
road even this evening, and offering Christ indiscriminately is a
God dishonouring position. It is unscriptural, it is unwarranted,
and it is putting the people of God, the real people of God,
to confusion. The deacon of a strict Baptist
chapel, I was shocked. I won't say where it is, you
probably know anyway. The deacon of a strict Baptist
chapel said to me, so what's the problem then, if men preach
the free offer of the gospel? I said it deceives people. Deceives
people into thinking that they are right, and that Christ is
within their possession, when with no worry for that at all. No worry. Indeed, the Lord must
undertake for us, offered to bear the sins. You see, Christ really came to
save sinners. That's what He did. and there's no further God dishonouring
doctrine than to offer Christ to all and
sundry, to those who feel no need of Him, to those of whom
He is but a swear word, or to those of whom are hard in their
hearts, rebellious and angry. Do we find that today more than
ever? as you meet people in the secular world and in your in
business or in the community there's lots of very bitter people and they attempt to blame the
Almighty for all their problems it doesn't occur to them that
they're the biggest source of all their problems themselves
that's not something that occurs to them But you know we're all
our own worst enemy, because that's how we are. But here we
can see, offering the Gospel to all and sundry is not the
position. The Lord says, Come unto me ye
that labour and are heavy laden. and I will give you rest." The
Gospel invitations are always to designated persons in certain
circumstances. Those of whom were pricked in
their hearts. Those of whom where the Word had already taken effect.
Those of whom were under the bondage of sin. And unto them that look for Him. shall he appear but to bear the
sins of many now notice this to bear the sins
of many you might say well doesn't that
imply that most people will be saved no no we're certainly not
universalists we here are not post-millennial
We don't believe there's going to be a great revival towards
the end of any sect or race or of any kind of major revival
in general. When the Lord shall return shall
he find faith on the earth is the correct position. But to bear the sins of many,
what does that mean then? Well it simply means this. From
Adam until the very last man. Is that not many? Is that not
many? A remnant of every generation. A remnant of every place. A remnant of every time. That's the position. That's what
this text is saying. Even if the Lord does revive
a place, and there is an unusual outpouring of His Spirit. Comparatively
speaking, they're a minority. So bearing the sins of many,
and as we consider this morning, not only considering, if we consider
our own sins in our own lives, we feel the Lord to be long-suffering.
But throughout the generations of the Church, does He not show
Himself to be kind, merciful, and an all-forgiving Lord God. And unto them that look for Him
shall He appear. Now this is where we come to
in respect to the exercise of these things. The cynic might
say, ah well that's typical of you, you Portsmouth people preaching
this hyper-Calvinism. But you know it's not without
exercise is it? These things are never without
exercise. and unto them that look for Him. Isn't that the designated people
that we're speaking of within the context? Them that look for Him. Now this looking for Him might
be in many forms. It might be in many forms. First
of all, is it not within our own souls? through
the ministry of the Word. Do we not look for Him? We are
desirous, are we not, to worship Him? Firstly and foremost, we come
to worship the Lord. But do we not look for Him? Within the ministry? A Christ-centric ministry is
the only ministry which saves. You see, many ministries are
not Christ-centric, they're me-centric. They're me-centric. And thus, them that look for
Him. Tonight, bearing the sins of
many, of every kindred, of every nation, of every tribe, of every
tongue. That they're not those in exercise. Feeling to need a word for their
souls of the Lord to feed them. You see, there's only Christ
that feeds. There's only Christ that feeds. And a lot of people preach a
Christ, but do they preach the Christ? The Christ that saves
here, that we find within our context. To them that look for
Him. And thus, as we come week by
week, do we not look for Him? Do we not seek for Him? Is He
not the desire of our souls if it's anything else we're in a
poor state we're in a poor state but also to be looking for him in respect of this great return a much neglected truth I would
say. A much neglected truth. Looking for him, shall he appear
the second time? This speaks here of a personal
return of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's not a scintilla here
of it being in secret. There's no indication that people
won't know about it. It simply states, shall he appear. And of course elsewhere we read
that the Trump shall sound. Oh and men will know, men will
see this appearing. And for many will hide for the
rocks, call for the rocks to fall upon them to hide them from
the wrath. Why? Because their sins will
be before them. Shall He appear the second time?
So here we can see firmly there's no question of the fact that
He came the first time. But He shall appear the second
time. And notice this, without sin unto salvation. So there's no indication here
of second chances for anybody. This is the Gospel Age. How many times do we read within
the New Testament? The last day. That is the end
of the mosaic economy. until his second personal return. These are the last days. That
is the last generations. And so here we find ourselves
in the Gospel day. Highly privileged. We have his
word. We have here in Western Europe
hundreds of years of Protestant heritage. But we need a word for our souls.
Yesterday's blessing is yesterday's blessing. Do we not need a gospel
for today? Appearing the second time without
sin unto salvation. You see that word salvation again
is a three-fold word. We considered that before here.
But we would simply emphasize that this salvation is threefold.
We have been saved. We read, even this evening did
we not, of our eternal redemption. Saved, secured, in Christ, in
the Eternal Son. We have been saved. That is,
the Lord has called us by His grace is dealt with us whilst
here upon the earth in the respective times that we have been born
and at that appointed time the Lord has dealt with us within
our souls but we will be saved to be kept by the power of God and thus There is a looking for
the personal return of Christ. Notice it doesn't tell you to
look for signs surrounding it. But living on the tiptoe of faith. It's a wicked generation that
seeketh after a sign. Living on the tiptoe of faith.
Looking unto Him by faith. All these things are by faith. Many may try and encourage you
to sell your house, to empty your bank account and follow
them. But that's the way of the con man. It's not the way of
the Gospel. Everything that we have read
of, everything which we have seen, that we have spoken of,
and that we have seen within these chapters, even this evening,
must be received by faith. There's nothing else. There's
nothing else. They're not tangible with the
hand. Blessed are ye which have not
seen, yet believed. What? Again, what do we look
for when we read the epistle to the Hebrews? Is there not that desire to read
with profit? To hear with profit? To see Christ preeminent in all
of these things? Because that's the final end.
Is it not with His personal return? We don't look for images. pictures
and so on. It's not those things. It's looking
by faith. And is that not when our hearts
are warmed and we are encouraged? It's when we are taken out of
self. The Lord undertaking, implanting
faith within us. No ability in self, but granting
us. by His mercy, by His own appointed
means through the preaching of the Gospel dealing with our souls that we may see that Jesus Christ
is all and in all. I'll leave it there for this
evening. 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. Amen.