I said I'd like to speak on the
subject, the sufficiency of the one death of Christ. Why it is
that Christ need die only one time and no more, never again. But Hebrews chapter 9, let's
look at verse 25. through verse 28 for our opening
text. And we'll be all over Hebrews
before we get through with this. You can see by verse 25 that
we're breaking in upon a flow of thought. Nor yet that he should
offer himself often as the high priest entered into the holy
place every year with the blood of others. For then must he have
often 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 here's that verse, "...as
it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sin of many, and unto them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Now, we
find in the book of Hebrews that there are several contrasts that
are made between the Levitical priesthood and the priesthood
of our Lord Jesus Christ and His ministry. And all of them,
all these contrasts, are designed to prove and to exhibit the excellency
of Christ as a priest, the excellency of His ministry, and the excellency
of the sacrifice that He made in His death. That if Christ
compared to the angel, He hath a more excellent name than they,
Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 4. And concerning the priesthood
of our Lord, compared to all of that of the Levitical system,
We read, for example, in Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 6, he hath
obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also he is the mediator
of a better covenant which was established upon better principles
or promises, unquote. And in the unfolding in the Hebrew
epistle, such contrasts are made as these. And we'll just notice
them before we move along. And that is that Aaron was a
Levitical priest. He served after the order of
the Levitical priesthood, but Christ was a priest after a different
order, a priest after the order of Melchizedek. And because of
that, he has an intransmissible priesthood. It will never pass
from him unto any other. There's something else about
it very important, and that is that Aaron was a sinner. Aaron was a sinner, had an Adamic
nature, and therefore his priestly ministry was put to an end by
his death. But Christ has a sinless and
an endless duration. He had no sin, and he shall never
be overcome by death. Aaron, when he made sacrifices,
offered the blood of goats and bullocks and such things as that,
but Christ offered his very own blood that he shed upon the tree. Aaron served in a worldly or
an earthly sanctuary, one located on the earth and made by the
hands of men. But Christ served in the heavenly
sanctuary, even in the very presence of God. And these are two great
contrasts that are made here in our text in verse 24. and
verse 25. Let's look at them. First of
all, in verse 24, Christ, our great high priest, is not entered
into the sanctuary made with hand. That is, he is not entered
into that one that was built, erected, stood up, made by the
labor of the hands of men, and made of earthly material. But he, Christ, is entered in
as our priest into heaven itself, even in the very presence of
God. Note verse 24 says that the earthly
things are figures and types of that which is true or which
was to come in Christ. On atonement day, the high priest
would enter there into the holy place with the blood of a sacrifice,
and he would enter into the typical presence of God there above the
mercy seat where the cherubims and all of those things that
God had ordered to be made and to be installed there. And the
priest would enter behind the veil, he would take the blood
of the animal sacrificed, sprinkle it there upon the mercy seat
in behalf of the people making an atonement typically for their
sin. So the contrast in verse 24 is
Christ is not entered into an earthly sanctuary,
but is actually literally entered into heaven itself. Now, the
other contrast is found in verse 25. And again, there is a great
difference here between the sacrifice of the Aaronic priest and that
of Christ. In that, not only did he not
enter into an earthly sanctuary, but neither did he offer his
sacrifice again and again, over and over, time and again. So there is a great difference
here that needs to be reconciled in the mind of the first century
Jew. How can this be and how can it
make a good and a profitable sacrifice for the high priest
offered a new sacrifice at different intervals all along through their
history every year. He would repeat it every year.
He would slay one every year. He would enter in the first veil
and then into the second. And yet, they had been told in
verse 24, that these things are or were only typical. They were not the real substance
in themselves. In other words, Christ made no
repetition of his sacrifice or his death, for it was not necessary
because of the reason that we will consider shortly. But first
of all, let's acknowledge something that is given very strong emphasis
in the book of Hebrews in the epistle which is this, the repetitive
nature of the Levitical sacrifices. While Christ made but one, they
made many, countless. How many? Who can tell? Of the
sacrifice of the Jewish high priest, we read in Hebrews 9
and verse 7 every year. Hebrews 9 verse 25. every year
and often. In Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
1, year by year, and in the third verse of Hebrews chapter 10,
again, every year. Every year. Year after year. As sure as the year rolled around,
Aaron made a repetition of his sacrifices. Now these references
refer to a certain cycle of time to mark a space of time in God's
dealing with them and it was to take place every year on the
day of atonement. On the other hand, in this same
book of Hebrews, we read several times that Christ made one and
only one sacrifice. He died only one death. And again, going through Hebrews
chapter 7 and verse 27, once. He died once. Again in Hebrews
9 and 12, once. 9 and 26, it is once. 9 and 28,
it is once. Hebrews 10 and 10, it is once. Hebrews 10 and 12, one sacrifice
for sin. By the way, the one death of
Christ is also emphasized in some of the other epistles in
our New Testament. For example, 1 Peter 3 and verse
18. Christ also has once suffered
for sin. Paul mentions it, I think, in
the book of Romans 6 and verse 10, where he makes this statement
that he died unto sin once. And in that he died unto sin
once, he dieth no more, sin hath no more dominion over him. Now, in verse 25 of our text,
he did not, he need not, offer himself often, as if to say,
neither was it necessary that he offer himself often as the
high priest offered once or every year. In verse 26, had that been
the case, that is, that his sacrifice need any repetition, had he need
to die again and again, then two things would follow. Number
one, he should suffer often. He should suffer early and he
should suffer often again and again. From the beginning he
should have been suffering death when sin alienated man from God
and brought them down to the grave. then he should suffer
often, again and again, over and over. That at proper time
and proper or appointed interval. The Jews were used to the repetition
in their sacrifices for their sin. But as a person does not
experience a second birth, neither will Christ die a second death. Though when the Israeli priest
came out of the earthly tabernacle, at the same time next year, he
would make another offering, he would repeat it all over again. Catch this, if you can, from
the book of Hebrews. Number one, that Christ has died
once, speaks of, declares the efficiency of His death. that Christ died only one time
means that His sacrifice was fully sufficient. It's all that's
needed. It's all that God required. It's
all that Christ will ever be required to offer. The sacrifice
has an everlasting sufficiency, never need to be repeated, though
the ages roll on top of the ages. Secondly, The repetition of the
Jewish sacrifices, on the other hand, was proof, says Paul, of
their inability to remove sin. This we have in Hebrews 10, 1-4. And I'm going to read it for
our hearing. Hebrews 10, 1-4. For the law,
having a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of
those things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered
year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered because that the worshippers once purged,
should have had no more sacrifice for sin. But in those sacrifices,
a remembrance again of sin is made every year. And listen,
it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should
take away sin. So we know they could not perfect
the worshiper. They could not purge the conscience
of its guilt. And let us see the connection
then between verses 2 and 3. That such offering would have
ceased to be brought every year if they were efficient to take
away sin. The worshipers purged of their
sin, there would have been no more need of a sacrifice again
every year. And if their consciences could
rest clear, purged and pure in the blood of those sacrificial
animals, there would have been no need for their repetition. And the reason that that could
not be is declared in verse 4. It's just not possible that the
blood of beasts should be able to take away sin. But back to
Hebrews 9.26. If Christ must suffer often,
then that would commence, would it not, from the beginning of
history. Instead, our Lord delayed His
appearance until the end of the world, or the end of the ages,
as the word would be. Thus we know, when He appeared,
which was in the end of the world, John Owen said this about it,
quote, Not from the foundation of the
world, but in the end of it." Now all men could count time
as it was long delayed before the flood came and destroyed
the earth. in that particular day. Not in
the time of Abraham, however, did the Savior appear. Not in
the time of Moses or the time of David or the time of the prophet. But look what he said in Hebrew. He writes, in the end of the
world or of the age. Paul called Galatians 4 and verse
4, the fullness of time when our Lord appeared in the world
among men. Almost all expositors can agree
that the words could and perhaps should be translated, in the
end or the consummation of the ages. In the consummation, thus
is expressed in several different ways in the holy oracles of our
God. As for example, Hebrews chapter
1 and verse 2, has in these last days spoken unto us in His Son,
the last age of the world ushered in by the appearance of Messiah
coming in the flesh. Paul makes this contrast in 1
Corinthians chapter 10 and 11 when he wrote of some examples
from former times, he said, Now these things happen unto them
for example, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom
the ends of the world is come. My Marshall's interlinear has
it, to whom the end of the ages has arrived. I John 2.18, My
little children, it is the last time. some have it the last hour. And the appearance of Antichrist,
John said, signaled so that it was the last time. Historians
tell us this is an allusion to the Jewish custom of speaking,
that they spoke of this age or that age, before the law, under
the law, and after the law, that the Jews had that way of speaking. So that these sacrifices being
made yearly and at regular appointed intervals by the grace of God. And in the end of verse 26 of
our text, the reason for the appearing of Messiah in the consummation
of the age was to put away sin and that by the sacrifice of
Himself. The mighty incarnation was in
regard to sin. Christ came into this world in
relation unto sin, to deal with sin, not to observe it, not to
find out its nature, not to fight it as it were, not to study it,
but the inspired author tells us to put it away, to put away
sin. What does he use the word sin?
For notice, it is not sins in the plural here, but it is sin
in the singular. He means the condemning power
of sin. Freeing his people from the guilt
and the power of sin. That he makes satisfaction to
God in behalf of their sin. and that that sin be not imputed
to those whom Christ has loved and has died for. In this sense,
he put it away. He condemned it in the flesh. Sometimes study Romans 8 and
verse 3, to condemn sin in the flesh. He became incarnate, that
by dying He might destroy the one who had the power of death,
that is, the devil. Do any ask, how has Christ put
away sin? When there is more sin in the
world than there has ever been, or there is more sin all of the
time. There is sin and it is increasing. There is sin and it is becoming
more violent and more public. Well, the answer is he has not
put away sin by stopping people from sinning, nor has he banished
sin out of the universe completely, but he has taken away the power
of sin to have dominion and condemnation. He has taken away its power of
condemnation and dominion. You see, sin has laid a double
hurt upon the family of Adam. First of all, it lays us open
to guilt and to condemnation. It makes us liable to sin and
unto death. And except for the inhibition
of Christ, we had been in danger of everlasting hellfire. Sin is a tyrant. able, as Paul tells us, to use
the holy law of God to get at us, sin taking occasion by the
commandment. It's even able to do that. But
secondly, it rules in and leads us captive. It does that to every
member of the race until they are regenerate. and made new
creatures in Jesus Christ. It exercises a lordship, as it
were, or a dominion over us so long as we are in what the Bible
calls the flesh. And as the Puritan Owen put it,
Christ appeared to abrogate this law of sin and to deprive it
of its whole power, unquote. And this he did in regard to
two things that R just mentioned. Number one, he took away its
condemning power. And number two, by means of the
atonement applied to us through regeneration, we are no longer
the slaves and the bondage of sin. and the conscience is purged
of guilt. There is a measure of discernible
sanctification carried on in the life of the regenerate and
converted elect. This raises the question then,
how has the Lord Jesus put away sin? What means has He used to
accomplish this most marvelous feat? By what means is sin stripped
of its power to condemn us and to dominate us? Well, the answer
is there in our text, by the sacrifice of himself. He put away sin by offering himself
and offering himself without spot to God back in verse 14
of Hebrews 9. It also states that Christ offered
himself through the eternal Spirit of God. Ephesians 5 and 2 is
a wonderful verse. It says, it states that Christ
has given himself an offering and a sweet sacrifice, a sweet
smelling savor unto God. Please note that Paul doubles
it. He uses two words, offering and sacrifice it. It expresses
the idea of full and complete sacrifice and atonement, one
that is made for the specific purpose and reason of expiating
sin. And to whom was the sacrifice
made, offered, or given? The answer, Christ offered himself
to God. He made satisfaction to the God
of heaven. His blood was shed, his offering
in his body, his death on the cross as a presentation to the
just and holy God as a sacrifice for the sin of His people. Christ gave Himself unto God,
into the hands of God. Gave Himself into God's hands
as a sweet sacrifice. We read that in Ephesians chapter
5. And verse 2, he calls the offering
of Christ, listen, quote, a sweet-smelling savor, unquote. And of course this is an allusion
to the Old Testament description of the sacrifice. Probably first
mentioned in Genesis 8, 20 and 21, when Noah made a sacrifice
and God smelled a sweet-smelling savor. off of the burning altar
of Noah. And then and there he vowed never
to curse the earth again in the way that he had done by the flood. Instead, looking forward to the
great sacrifice of Christ that would come in its time. Now,
the same simile is used in the book of Leviticus concerning
the sacrifices, sweet smelling, incense beaten small, you know,
to put up a sweet savor there in the tabernacle that was representative
of that sacrifice of our blessed Savior. Now, strictly speaking,
the actual smell of the burning sacrifice was not sweet and pleasing
unto the nostril, For they burnt the inward part, they burnt the
legs, and they burnt the head and the fat, and yet to God it
was a sweet savor. Even so, to the carnal man, or
the carnal religion moralist, or the self-righteous Pharisee,
the death of Christ on the cross, that awful suffering that he
endured has no particular attraction or beauty unto them. Some see
it as foolishness, but to the Regenerate One, the death of
Christ upon the cross is a sweet-smelling savor indeed, and to us it is
the power of God. Now, there is a matter that might
be discussed in this particular place, and the question, since
Christ died not since at regular intervals, but died not till
the end of the ages or the consumments of the ages, And since the blood
of beast and of goats and bullock could not take away sin, the
question might then come, what then of the sins of the Old Testament
saints? What of Abraham? and Sarah, and
Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, and David, and Joseph, Rahab,
how were their sins remitted? How were these Old Testament
saints saved from their sins? Let us be firm and stand sure,
every sin forgiven, every soul saved from the first one until
the last one will be so by and through the death of the Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. John Brown said, all the sins
which have been committed in the past or shall be committed
in the future shall be forgiven, will be forgiven on the ground
of the same propitiation, unquote. That would be the death of our
Lord Jesus Christ. I think there are two passages
in the New Testament that declare this very clearly. that Christ's
death saved both the Old Testament saint and the New Testament saint. We won't go to them in length,
but they are. Hebrews 9 and verse 15 says very
clearly about those who were under the first transgression,
that were under the First Testament, that lived in that olden time. Now, since the sacrifices of
blood of animals could not take away their sin, nor purge the
conscious, nor perfect the worshiper, how then were their sins put
away? Well, again, John Brown said,
the great design of the new covenant is that the call ones might receive
the promise inherited that was given to Abraham. And in order
for this to be true, those saints who worshiped under the First
Testament, there must be in their heart a redemption for those
transgressions that were under or against that First Covenant. This required not only death,
not only the shedding of blood, but the kind of death and the
kind of sacrifice that our Lord offered. Now, the other or the
second passage is that one in Romans chapter 3 and verse 25
and verse 26. It says that Christ has set forth
a propitiation for the remission of sin that are passed through
the forbearance of God, the sins which were not properly expiated
by legal sacrifices, yet were sinners saved, and saved not
by the merit of animal blood, but on the credit of the coming
future death of Christ, the great sacrifice, so that all that ever
shall be saved from the first until the end of the world, shall
be saved only and by the death of Christ our Lord. It will never
lose its efficacy, the death of Christ. It has efficacy to
reach back and put away the sin of the Old Testament saints,
Abraham and such like. It will never lose its efficacy,
therefore it will never need to be repented again. Now while
there's a little bit of time left, let us shift our attention
to that 27th verse there in Hebrews chapter 9. As some know, I use
this verse in a funeral at times. I'm using this verse for that
purpose in a funeral. But this evening I want to look
at it from another standpoint, and that is as it has relation
unto the one death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. How
does this fit in then to the context? Why does the author
bring this matter up in verse 27? What does the death of men
have in common with the death of Christ in this instance? Just this, the author has laid
heavy emphasis in Hebrews upon the fact that Christ need only
die one time in order to put away sin. One time, once only,
once and no more, one death is all that is ever being required
of Him. Verse 27 shows there is this
analogy between the death of men and the death of Christ. That though man is a sinner,
the wages of sin are death. Yet by the ordination of God,
even the most sinful person that ever lived in the world must
undergo death but one time, one and no more. One death is a sufficient
Infliction for sin, even when it comes unto physical death. True, there will be a judgment
to follow, but he need not die again, he need not die a second
time, need not die over and over. Because as my favorite exposter
of Hebrews has written, John Owen, God enacted an everlasting
law concerning Adam and his posterity that they should die and that
once, unquote. And so what he is saying, it's
appointed unto man once to die. Now, look at verse 28. Even so
Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. He will die
no more, never again. Death hath no more dominion over
him, so long as the world stand. and sin abounds, yet Christ will
never die again. In verse 28, even though He appear
again after His death, yet it will not be that He is appearing
in regard to sin. It is appointed unto men once
to die, so that Christ was once offered, once to bear the sin
of men, for He bare our sins in His own body one time upon
the tree." Note, those whose sins He bore, are denominated
as many. He bore the sin of many. Not everyone without exception,
but many. Isaiah 53 and verse 12, He bare
the sin of many. Matthew 20 and 28, This is my
blood shed for many for the remission of sin. So we say, all that the
Lord died for will be saved, for His death is the means to
redeem them and save them from their sin. Christ cannot die
unsavingly for any. His blood cannot miscarry in
the case of a single one that He died for. And to quote Hebrews
10 and 14, for by one offering he has perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Romans 6 and 9, Christ being
raised from the dead, die no more. Death hath no more dominion
over him. He's died once. It's been sufficient
for sin and satisfying to God. He died once and only once where
all of those multitude of repeated sacrifices could not take away
sin. The blood of Christ in one day
takes away sin. An everlasting redemption is
what Hebrews calls it by the death of Christ.