In Romans 3, I want to point
your attention to two verses. That would be verse 25 and verse
26 of Romans 3. Notice how this reads and to
what it refers. Whom God, that is Christ, God
sent Christ for to be a perpetuation through faith in His blood to
declare His righteousness, watch this, for the remission of sins
that are past through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say, at
this time His righteousness, that He might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Now, flipping to Hebrews
chapter 9, verse 24 and verse 25 for our text of the evening. I'm sorry, verse 24 through verse
28 of this chapter. For Christ is not entered into
the 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. nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest entered into the holy places
every year with the blood of others. For then must he have
suffered since the foundation of the world. Now watch this. But now, once in the end of the
world, or the consummation of the ages, hath he appeared to
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed
unto man 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. Now, let me state our premise
right in the beginning of our study this morning, which is
this. Our premise is, as soon as the
human family sinned and fell in Adam, there was made a declaration
of one that was to come and bruise the head of the serpent." That's
in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15. And the announcement was
made not to Adam, and not to Eve, but was made actually unto
the serpent. One shall come of her seed and
bruise thy head." But my point is, centuries after centuries,
and even millennium after millennium passed, before it actually came
to pass in actuality. That even though the one that
was to bruise the head of the serpent was ordained by God to
do so before the foundation of the world, yet he did not appear
so soon as mankind fell in Adam and began to sin. Hebrews 9 and
26 said that He came not until the end of the world, or in the
end of the age, as that word certainly is, in the completion
of the ages. It was before this Divine One
made His appearance in the world and among men. Now, in the interim
between the fall and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, between
the interim, between the first promise of Christ and His actual
appearance, the all-wise, sovereign God actually began to make preparation
for the appearing of the great Redeemer into the world. And
in that period, He kept alive the expectation and the promise
and the prophecy making way for the One that was to come into
the world. He kept alive the expectation
by repeating it again and again. All things, therefore, that were
instituted between the fall of man And the incarnation of our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, were in preparation for that
great day when God would visit His people. And there would be
born one in the city of David, Luke 2 and verse 4, who was a
Savior, Christ the Lord. Luke 2 and verse 11, when the
one that Moses and the prophets talked about would be found tabernacling
among men. John 1 and verse 45. Reading this week Jonathan Edwards,
I was, and he put it in his book, The History of redemption is
the title of the book. And those things brought in,
he said, between the fall and the incarnation of Messiah, quote,
were forerunners and earnest of Christ's coming And as one
wrote, the providential workings of God in the interim between
the fall and the incarnation of our Lord were the turning
of the wheels of providence to make way for the coming of Christ
our Lord. Now God did some things in the
interim making ready of the world for the coming of His Son to
die upon the cross. God did some things to prepare. God did some things to sharpen
again the expectation of the great Redeemer. I would just
like to name three of them and shortly comment upon them. Three things that God did to
hold forth an expectation of the one who would bruise the
head of the serpent. First of all, the one that I
name is the promise. There was a promise that was
made in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15. It is the first promise
that we have of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is renewed from
time to time in the Old Testament Scripture, from age to age, that
it is renewed again, the promise, from generation to generation. And of all the promises, and
of all the great predictions of the Messiah, this one in Genesis
3.15 is not only first, but it is as we might expect, also the
most obscure of the promises that God made concerning His
Redeemer. And notice something about it.
It was not made, as I said, directly to Adam and to Eve, but it was
made under the serpent. In the sentence which was passed
upon the serpent for his part in the sin and the fall. then
I wonder if it slightly puzzles us why we don't find Christ or
the apostles in the New Testament, making a more direct reference
to this being the first prediction of the coming of the Great One. Matthew Henry, in his commentary
on Genesis 3 and verse 15, said, quote, the dawning of the gospel
day is what he sees here in this great promise. I would prefer
to call it the dawning of gospel light. Here is the first dawning
of gospel truth in the Scripture. And the first flickering, the
first faint light of gospel truth that God kindled in the world
among men. And that lamp was over time trimmed
brighter, and brighter and brighter in the things that God did and
the things that God added. So He made a promise as soon
as the fall occurred. Now the second thing that God
did in preparation for the coming of Messiah and sending him into
the world is God instituted the types and the shadows, especially
the bloody sacrifices to foreshadow the great redemption from sin
that was to be made by the great Redeemer. Animal sacrifices,
the shedding of animal blood did not wait for the Mosaic Law
to be instituted and to be used, but they were offered soon after
the fall, the first generation after the fall. are found offering
sacrifices. For example, Cain and Abel in
Genesis chapter 4 and 1 through 5 offered sacrifices before God
in a certain place. We read in Hebrews 11 and verse
4 that Abel, by faith, offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice
than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous."
God manifests His pleasure with the offering of Abel. The sacrifices as they were made
preach the depravity of the people. The sacrifices preach depravity
and sin. But also, that God's wrath against
their sin was propitiable by a proper sacrifice of God's ordaining. Now, these various sacrifices
ordained early continued until the death of the great vicarious
sacrifice of Christ, and then are they at an end forevermore. And then there's a third thing
that God did during this period in preparation for the coming
of Messiah, and to keep alive that expectation of the Great
One to come. And that was the predictions
and the prophecies that were given out by both the prophets
orally and the scriptures in writing. That a great one would
be sent from God. That a great one would come down
from God. Even the sinful woman of Samaria,
as sinful as she was, said in John chapter 4 and verse 25,
I know that Messiah is coming. And when He comes, He will tell
us all things. So the point is, there was an
expectation of Him even though so many, especially among the
Jewish nation, had lost sight of the nature of the mission
of Messiah and the first purpose for which He came. They had lost
sight of by the time He appeared and desired Him more to be a
temporal deliverer than a spiritual Savior from their sin. Other things that God did do
in preparation for the sending of the Messiah, such as the calling
out of Abraham. He separated by divine election
Abraham from his people, making of him a special nation. And He separated that nation
from the rest of the world and He gave them the laws and He
gave them the promises. He made covenants with them and
in them He put the services of God. He made a great separation
of the people of the earth in that day and time. The heathen
He generally left to themselves. He allowed them to walk in their
own way. Acts 14 and verse 16. He suffered them to go as they
would. He winked at their ignorance. Acts 17 and verse 30. And left them to walk, as the
psalmist said, in their very own counsel. And proving the
depravity and the ignorance of man, they all went off into great
depravity and sin. While leaving the Gentiles to
themselves, yet God took the seed of Abraham and a different
method with this people, using them to prepare for the advent
of the Holy One that God had promised and would sin. Now,
let us digress here just a bit to remind ourselves that the
sending of Christ into the world wrapped in our flesh was a thing
that God, the all-wise God, had purposed before time, before
the world began, before the foundation of the world. This was purposed
by God before ever Adam was created, before ever Adam and his wife
sinned, before the human family fell, Christ was ordained of
God to come. And though it was purposed and
promised and planned and ordained before the world, God did not
send the Redeemer as soon as mankind fell, and death and hell
began to swallow up sinners in that time, even though So early
did he begin to save sinners. He began early in that history
or period to save sinners. And save them how? not by their
works, not by the law, for it was not given for many years. He saved sinners by grace through
faith exactly as today. And then the world and the earth
was filled up with violence. in the days of Noah. Genesis
6, 11 and 13, the wickedness of man was great in the earth. Genesis 6 and verse 5, and all
flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth. Genesis 6, 12, God
determined then to destroy everything in which was the breath of life. And yet the great Redeemer did
not appear in that sinful generation to make a sacrifice for sin. Then Abraham's seed were in cruel
bondage down in the land of Egypt. There they groaned and they moaned,
under the burdensome life that they lived under the Pharaoh. And yet the great Redeemer did
not appear to that generation. Moses, yes, but not the great
Redeemer. Nor yet when Israel was overrun
by their enemies, when they were taken captive into Babylon. Neither did the great Redeemer
appear to that generation to relieve their misery and stand
them in their land again. Now at this point we reemphasize
that the Redeemer was purposed before the world ever began,
but was sent in the fullness of God's time. The preparation
for a Redeemer was laid before time, a mediator, a surety was
appointed as part of the everlasting purpose and counsel of God. And even then, as Jonathan Edwards
put it, All things regarding the work were stipulated and
agreed." That is, this divine counsel between the Holy Three,
the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. A covenant was struck
between the Holy Three. before the foundation of the
world. This is the everlasting covenant
as Hebrews 13 and verse 20 calls it. This is confirmed to us by
passages in the New Testament that Christ was ordained before
the foundation of the world to the death of the cross. Here
1 Peter chapter 1 And verse 20, he writes, who verily was foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these
last times for you. There is Titus chapter 1. The
verses are verse 2 and verse 3. Eternal life, which God, that
cannot lie, promised before the world began, but hath in due
time manifested His Word through preaching, which He has committed
unto me. That is, unto Paul. We have another
one. Great it is. 2 Timothy chapter
1. Here the verses are verse 9 and
verse 10. And Paul writes this to young
Timothy, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our own works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our great
Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and brought life
and immortality to light through the gospel." So those three clearly
declare that God's purpose to send Christ existed, was formed
before the world, ever began. So the purpose of redemption
of a portion of the fallen race was laid before the world. So was the means of that redemption,
the death of the incarnate Christ would be the means of their redemption. So the time or the season when
the redemption would occur, which Hebrews 9 and verse 26 pinpoints
as the end of the world or of the age. Now the Bible teaches
us clearly that the one and only means of sin being put away is
by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews 10, 1 through
4 is clear that the blood of animals shed by the gallon, yea,
by the barrel under the old covenant was deficient in two things. Number one, they could not perfect
the worshippers. All that blood slain at altars
could not perfect the worshippers because they could not purge
the conscience of their sin and of their guilt. You see that
in Hebrews 10, 1 and 2. Repetition of those sacrifices
brought not forgetfulness of their sin, but remembrance of
their sin. When they were repeated over
and over, it brought a remembrance of their sin. The second thing
that we learn is that it was impossible for the blood of animals,
any animals, even those deemed clean, to take away sin. It required a more infinite sacrifice
so that the animal blood did not take away the sin of the
Old Testament worshiper, nor were they justified upon the
principle of animal sacrifice and animal blood. Hebrews 10
in verse 1 is a helpful explanation. in that the law was only a shadow
of good things to come. It was not the very image, Hebrews
10 and 1 said. It was not the exact likeness. It was not the reality of the
thing itself. It was not an exact reality of
that with the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul wrote something along that
line in Colossians 2 and verse 17. The things in the Mosaic
law, he said, were a shadow of things to come, but the body
is Christ. Now listen to that contrast.
These types and shadows, what they were, were not the substance,
Christ is the substance and the body. The expanded paraphrase
by J. B. Lightfoot on that Colossian
passage goes like this, and I've copied it to share with you.
Quote, these are only shadows. thrown in in advance. Only types of things to come. The substance, the reality, in
every case, belongs to the gospel of Christ." And the NIV has it
this way. The reality, however, is found
in Christ. These things are type and are
shadow. They are pictures and symbols
of something better that was to come. But let's go back to
our question. Why the Redeemer did not come
soon after the fall, even though it had been purposed before eternity? Why wait 4,000 years to send
the Redeemer into the world? Why leave the world, and especially
Israel, with only a faint outline and shadows for so long without
the actual reality? Why leave the Gentiles over in
their ignorance and in their darkness? And why only give the
chosen nations the type and the shadows? and not the very image
of the thing. On a lesser level, let's consider
why did not Christ hasten to the grave of Lazarus as soon
as he heard that he was sick and his sisters feared that he
would die. Why did he not hasten to go as
soon as he heard that Lazarus was dying? The message came,
he that you love is sick. He that you love is very sick. Even sick on the death as the
case seems to have been. And yet what did Christ do but
tarry two days longer after hearing the report, John 11 and verse
6. In spite of the effort of his
sisters to save him, their prayers in his behalf, Lazarus' sickness
grew worse and worse, and he died and was buried before Christ
ever made an appearance. And yet the Lord took occasion
from that very thing to demonstrate Himself to be the resurrection
and the life. Now let's understand something,
that though Christ came not until some 4,000 years after the fall,
men began to sin and to die. Yet did He save sinners during
that time. Sinners were saved before Christ
died upon the cross. For example, Abel, Hebrews 11
and 4. Enoch in Genesis chapter 5 verse
24 and Hebrews 11 and verse 5. Enoch walked with God and was
not, for God took him. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord, Genesis 6 and verse 8. Abraham was justified by faith. Genesis 15, 6, you find it in
Romans, you'll find it again in Galatians. We even read in
Genesis 4 and verse 26, how in the days of Enosh, then began
men to call upon the name of the Lord. The margin has it like
this, they began to call themselves by the name of the Lord. I've heard none who deny that
sinners were saved under the old economy. The question is,
how were they saved? They were saved, but how were
they saved? And how completely were they
saved under that economy? Did they go to heaven upon death? Upon what ground were sinners
saved during that interim? In the case of Abraham we read,
John 8 and verse 56, he rejoiced to see Christ's day. He saw it and he was glad. He rejoiced to see it, though
afar off, but he saw it and it gladdened him. This would be
a sermon in itself, but we don't have time for that. Let's begin
with a period of time the farthest from the incarnation and the
death of our Lord. The first period of history after
the fall. Were there any saved during that
period after the human family fell? Then how were they saved? Upon what ground? were they saved? I repeat, it was not by the law,
for the law was not yet given until years and years later. Was it by the blood of the sacrifices
that they offered even in faith before God? No, it is clearly
stated in Hebrews chapter 10, it is not possible that the blood
of goats and animals should take away sin. And beside, there is
no other name given under heaven among men, whereby we must be
saved." Acts 4 and verse 12. Christ is the only way to the
Father. only way to the Father by any
sinner. And none can come unto the Father
except by Him. John 14 and verse 6 is very clear. None can be reconciled to God
except by a mediator and an advocate. None can come on their own and
in themselves. They must have a mediator and
an advocate. No mercy is extended except there
is first a propitiation made for sin, except there be the
shedding of blood. There is no remission. How then were sinners saved before
Christ died? Well, I agree with men. such
as Jonathan Edwards, John Gill, and others, that God did soon
after the fall begin to actually save sinners from their sin. And He did it through the mediation
and the redemption of Jesus Christ the Lord. although he did not
actually die until 4,000 years later of history. Now, we have
those two texts in the New Testament that we read in the beginning,
Romans 3, 25 and 26, and Hebrews 9, 24 through verse 28, as well
as Hebrews 9 and verse 15, and you ought to look at that one as well. Now, as
we know, the leading theme of the book of the Hebrew epistle
is the excellency of the gospel revelation over the Mosaic revelation
in general, and the excellency of the priesthood and the death
and sacrifice of Christ in particular. And in Hebrews 9, we're ready
to go there, Verse 24 and 25, two things here that Christ did
not do that the priests of old did many times. Number one, in
verse 24, He did not enter into the earthly tabernacle. He did not go into the man-made
temple, but He entered into the actual heavenly one, of which
the earthly was just a type. In other words, Jesus did not
go into the man-made temple to offer himself or to offer or
carry his blood. He entered in by his own blood
into the very presence of God. The second thing we notice, he
did not need to repeat his sacrifice ever again. Once and only once
must our Lord die. He did not need to die over and
over again like the continual repetition of the Old Testament
Jewish sacrifices. The author is clear here. Had
this been the case, should he die over and over and over, he
must have begun dying from the foundation of the world, that
is from the beginning, he must have then commenced his suffering
from the very beginning after man fell and sin entered. He must suffer then repeatedly
at intervals time after time, as the high priest once a year
went into the tabernacle with the blood of others. The fact
that they were repeated shows that they were ineffectual to
remove sin. That Christ died but once shows
the efficacy of His death. Thus He died once. And that one death did not occur
until the end of the world or the consummation of the ages. But the effect of it was to put
away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. The one death of Christ
has done what all the shed blood of all of the animals over the
course of history could not do. Many deaths, many sacrifices,
much blood was shed as sacrificial blood, that by many high priests,
and it was repeated at appointed time and appointed intervals,
and yet could not actually take away the sin of the worshiper. Carried our sins did Christ to
the cross in His very own body. And He made a once forever all-sufficient
sacrifice that will never require repeating or amending in any
way. It need not be updated in any
way or by anything. The once-ness of his death is
often emphasized in Hebrews and is set over against the many
and often sacrifices of the Old Testament Levitical priests.
Hebrews 9.25, "...nor yet that he should offer himself often."
Hebrews 9.26, "...once," is the key word there. 9.28, "...was
once offered to bear the sins of many." By the way, I want
you to consider with me verse 27. Look at verse 27. It's appointed
unto man once to die. How often have we heard that
verse of Scripture quoted, but always quoted out of its original
place or context? Quoted often, but seldom ever
connected with its context. Because you see, in the context,
of Hebrews 9, it supports the sufficiency of the one death
of Christ our Lord. One death is a sufficient penalty
for our sin. In verse 27, the author uses
what John Brown called, quote, a somewhat analogous arrangement
in reference to mankind. Which is, death as a penalty
for sin is undergone but one time. It is appointed unto man
once to die. not over and over and over. True it is that the three that
Christ raised to life during His ministry in the New Testament
died a second time. But on the other hand, men like
Enoch and Elijah leaped over the grave and did not die once. They were taken up to heaven
alive. So these are exceptions to the
rule. The general rule is this. Death
is undergone one time and only one time. Whether it is early
in life, or mid-life, or late in life, death comes but one
time. So verse 26, Christ offered Himself
once, because verse 27, it is appointed that man die once. Verse 28, Christ was once offered
to bear the sin of many. Now the question, Did Christ's
death atone for what Hebrews 9.15 refers to as the transgressions
under the First Testament or Covenant? If animal blood could
not remove sin, what of the sins of those Old Testament saints
of God for them or any? to receive the eternal inheritance
designed for their soul, it is necessary that their sins be
put away, and that sin can only be put away by the blood of Jesus
Christ. And listen to what Paul said
in that text in Romans 3 and verse 25. He talks about sins
that pass through the forbearance of God. Let that sink in. Let's say it again. The sins
that pass through the forbearance of God, they were under or against
the first covenant. As Owen and Brown and Gill understand
it, some sins which, though forgiven, remain unexpiated until Christ
died for them at the cross. And so, according to Paul, in
Romans chapter 3, verse 24 through verse 26, God sent Jesus forth
a propitiation through faith in His blood for the remission
of sin that were unpunished until Christ died at the cross. He did this to demonstrate His
righteousness, that God is righteous, that He might be just in justifying
those sinners and that sin might have a just recompense of reward,
that it might be punished as it deserves. Christ died upon
the cross, and the death and blood of Christ speaks better
things than that of Abel. Hebrews 12 and verse 24. all
sanctioned sacrifices, typified and pointed yonder to the one
great sacrifice of Christ. And when He died upon the cross,
it put an end to the types and the shadows forever. In fact,
it put an end to Judaism and the temple worship and all of
that. And it secured everlasting remission
of sin. It put away sin. Now you might say, huh, there's
more sin than ever. Sin's on every hand. How saith
the one, sin is put away by the sacrifice of Christ. He put it
away in its condemning power. It lost its power to condemn
through the blood of Christ. Now, the promises, the purpose,
the prediction, the types and the shadows are fulfilled now
Christ, the great one that they typified, has come and done his
work. Jesus has died. There is remission. Yes, the Lord died for all sin
that will ever be forgiven. The Lord died for every sin that
God intends to remit and to forgive the Lord Jesus Christ died for
that sin. If not, it has no reason to be
put away. If not, propitiated. Yes, our
Lord is the one great sacrifice who took upon Himself in the
end of the ages, even sins under the first covenant, sins that
had passed through the forbearance of God. They had not been fully
punished as they deserve, but they were in Christ and His righteousness
shines out because God has required a sacrifice for sins that are
forgiven. And that sacrifice is Christ.
We've gone from promise to accomplishment this morning, that the Lord did
come and bear the sins that other sacrifices could not take away.