Sovereign Grace Chapel, located
at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to
listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. I invite
your attention this morning to the book of Hebrews,
Hebrews chapter 9. Our text will be Hebrews chapter
9 verse 27 and 28. Let's read our text together.
It says, 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 appointed. Now the word
appointed means fixed. It means set or reserved. For all of us, death is appointed. But not just death. I want us
to understand that every single thing that ever happens, happens
at God's appointed time. Ecclesiastes 3 verse 1 says,
to everything there is a season. And the word season here means
appointed occasion. To everything there is a season
and a time, to every purpose under the heaven. There's no
such thing as coincidence. It's a word we love to use. but
there's no such thing as coincidence or chance. I want to show you
something in Isaiah chapter 46, if you'll turn with me there.
Isaiah chapter 46, verse nine says, remember the
former things of old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there is none like
me. Declaring the end from the beginning,
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying,
my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure, calling a
ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel
from a far country, yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring
it to pass, I have purposed it, I will also do it. Now let me
ask you this, who on earth could possibly declare the end from
the beginning? Who could possibly declare from
ancient times things that are not yet done? Only God. We don't know what's gonna happen.
We don't know what a day might bring forth, but God does because
He's sovereign, He's on His throne, He's ruling and reigning over
everything and everyone all the time. And everything that happens,
happens precisely as He has appointed. Every single day that comes to
pass, is simply the unfolding of His providence. Now, knowing
this, let's look at our text again. Hebrews 9 verse 27. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, we all have an appointed time of death. Ecclesiastes 3
verse 2 says there is a time to be born and a time to die. You know, you have a baby. Sometimes
the baby, it's said, was born prematurely. The doctor gives
us a due date. Well, how rarely is the baby
born on what we're told the due date is? You see, our due date
has been appointed by God. And on our exit date, if I can
call it that, the day of our death, is appointed by God. Job
14 verse 5 says that God has appointed our bounds so that
we cannot pass. That means we're not born a second
too soon and we're not going to die one day too early. It's
all going to happen at God's appointed time. Now I know Every
day we can turn on the news and hear about a car accident. We
can hear about some horrible tragedy that should not have
happened. We hear all the time, I hear it in songs about people
dying young, only the good die young. The fact of the matter
is, there is no such thing as an untimely death, an accidental
death, or anything of this sort. The exact manner, the place,
down to the very moment and all surrounding circumstances of
every single death that ever takes place has been appointed
by God Almighty. And what that means for us is
our times are in His hand. The psalmist knew this. Now I
know every day we go about our life, we make decisions, we choose
to do things and go here and there and do what we will. But
James put it well. He said, if the Lord will. We
shall live and do this or that only if the Lord will. Proverbs 16 verse 9 says that
a man's heart deviseth his way. That means we truly, we do what
we want to do. Man wants to talk about his free
will. Well, if we do, this is the extent
of it. A man's heart deviseth his way.
but the Lord directeth his steps. What that means is we can't walk
one step out of the way God has ordained for us. And that comforts
me to know that we are in his hands. Our times are in his hand. But the reality we must face,
and we need to consider this, is that our appointed time of
death is coming very soon. Very few people expect to die
today, and yet the stark reality is many shall. James also said
that this life is but a vapor that appeareth for a little time. You know, we think life's so
long, don't we? He said it's but a vapor that appears for
a little time and then vanisheth away. Just like that. Just like
that. And we ought to consider this
often. We ought to live like our next breath just may be our
last, because it just may. Oh, that they were wise that
they understood this, that they might consider their latter end.
Why? Why is this so important? I realize
it's against our nature to think about death, the last thing we
want to think about. Why is it so important that we
do? Here's why. Because death is not the end. There are some people who think
that when they die, well, that's it. It's over. Or they have misconstrued
thoughts of what happens after death. Well, I'll show you right
here what happens after death. It's in our text, Hebrews 9,
27. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this,
the judgment, immediately after death, is the judgment. And we can't adequately stress
the importance of this. Judgment is coming. People love
to say only God can judge me. Well, we better be careful when
we say that because he's going to. Soon we will stand before
God Almighty in the judgment. And here's what God declares
himself to be. Holy, holy, holy, holy. He said, I will by no means
clear the guilty. That means the soul that sinneth
it shall die, period. In 2 Corinthians 5, verse 10,
the Apostle Paul wrote this. He said, For we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the
things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether
it be good or bad. What he's saying is, God is going
to judge us according to the things that we've done in our
body. Whether it be good or bad, God will judge us according to
our works. How does that make you feel?
Honestly, I can't imagine anything more frightening. It's no wonder
the writer of the Hebrews said, it is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. And here's another thing
we must fearfully acknowledge, there's no escaping it. Death
is coming, judgment is coming, there's no escaping it. It's
appointed, it's already been appointed. Paul said we must,
we must appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Paul also said
in 1 Thessalonians chapter five, verse two and three, he said,
the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night, means
you're not gonna see it coming. For when they shall say, peace
and safety, that's what this whole religious world says, peace
and safety, everything's fine, it's all right with me, I'm as
sure of heaven as if I'm already there. He said when they're gonna
say that, when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden
destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with
child, and they shall not escape." There's no escaping it. Death
and judgment are coming soon. Do we see how serious this is? This is critical. Absolutely
critical. If you have your Bible, look
with me at Revelation chapter 20. I want you to see this. Revelation
chapter 20. Verse 11, John is writing here
and he says, I saw a great white throne, and this is referring
to the judgment. I saw a great white throne and
him that sat on it, that's the Lord Jesus Christ, from whose
face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found
no place for them. And I saw the dead, 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. Verse 13 says, And the
sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death 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
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire. There is a real place called
hell." You know, there are some people that say, oh, well, God's
good. He wouldn't send anybody to hell. Did you read what God
wrote here? Did you read what we just saw?
There's a real place called hell, God calls it the lake of fire.
In another place, He calls it the place where the fire shall
never be quenched, the place where the worm dieth not. And He summed it all up here
in verse 14 by calling it the second death. I know by nature,
none of us like to think about the first death. But we ought
to think about that. But more especially, we ought
to think about the second death. Oh, I do not want to die that
death. It's sad to acknowledge this,
but men and women all over this world are meeting God in judgment. We're running into death and
the judgment faster than we'd like to imagine. And most people
are doing so ignorantly trusting in their works. We just read
it twice right here in Revelation 20. God's going to judge us according
to our works. We read in Matthew chapter seven,
our Lord said this. He said, not everyone that saith
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. He
said, many shall say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we
not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name cast out devils?
And in thy name done many wonderful works? What he's saying is it's
not enough to be religious. It's not enough to even use God's
name or Christ's name or in Jesus' name. That's not enough. Because
if you come like that, pleading your works, many wonderful works
that we've done, here's what he said to them. He said, and
I will profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, get
out. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity, you workers of iniquity." This is important. There's nothing
more important. In that day, that great day,
when the books are opened, when God opens the book of your life
and starts turning the pages, He's gonna see us for as we are. All things are naked and open
before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. We need to understand
that. All the secret sins, the things we know about that we
don't think anybody else knows about, the things we're truly
ashamed of and try to hide from others, God sees it. God searches
the heart, He tries the reins, He knows everything, everything
about us. And when He opens the books,
I'm here to tell you it's not gonna be good for us. It's not
going to be good for us. Unless... Did you notice something
that we read about twice in these few verses here in Revelation
20? Twice it mentioned a book of
life. Here's our hope. What is this
book of life? whose names are written there. If our name's not written there,
it says we're gonna be cast into the lake of fire. Well, what
if our name is written there? Whose names are written there?
Well, over just a page in Revelation 21, verse nine, it says, and
there came unto me one of the seven angels, which had the seven
vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me,
saying, come hither, I will show thee the bride, the lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the
Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city,
the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. Look
down at verse 22. And I saw no temple therein.
For the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
This is speaking of heaven, New Jerusalem. Verse 23 says, And
the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine
in it. For the glory of God did lighten
it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them
which are saved shall walk in the light of it. And the kings
of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it, and the gates
of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no
night there. And they shall bring the glory
and honor of the nations into it, and there shall in no wise
enter into it anything that defileth. Neither whatsoever worketh abomination
or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book
of life." Now, real quick, where it says, nothing's gonna enter
in that defileth or worketh abomination or maketh a lie. That captures
all of us. That captures all of mankind.
But praise God, he went on to say, there are some people who
are gonna enter in. And they are they which are written
in the Lamb's book of life. You see, this book, this book
of life, is the Lamb's Book of Life. Now the Lamb, we know this,
is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. He's the Lamb that John the Baptist
proclaimed when he said, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world. And let me just point out, when
he said world, this whole religious world loves to cling to the word
world, like John 3.16, God so loved the world. Well, our Lord
said in John 17, I pray not for the world. He said, I pray for
them which you've given me out of the world. And when John said,
behold, the Lamb of God, he's talking about those which are
written in the Lamb's book of life. Do you see the connection
here? Oh, I pray you do. Well, who are these people? Who are these people written
in the Lamb's book of life? They are those chosen of God,
chosen by God the Father in We read about it so clearly in Ephesians
1 verse 4, He chose us in Him, chosen in Him. God the Father
chose a bride for His Son. I love how Revelation 21 9 called
God's people the Lamb's wife, the bride of Christ. We read
in the Old Testament, thy maker is thy husband. Oh, I love that. Now look back at our text, Hebrews
9, 27. 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. You see, death and judgment have
been appointed for all mankind, but salvation in the Lord Jesus
Christ has been appointed to many. Many. And I'm so glad it doesn't say
few. You know, it says a remnant shall be saved. Many are called,
but few are chosen. But praise God, it's going to
be a multitude no man can number. It's going to be many. Now, we
must acknowledge this fact that Christ did not come to save everyone.
God does not love everyone. He does not want everyone to
be saved. Christ came to bear the sins
of many. We read in 1 Timothy 1.15, this
is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, sinners, and it
shall be many. Matthew 20 verse 28 says, he
gave his life a ransom for many. Mark 14.24 said, this is my blood
of the New Testament which is shed for many. He shed His blood
on purpose, and He died on purpose to give eternal life to as many
as the Father had given Him. See, brethren, it is appointed
unto Christ once to die in God's infinite wisdom and matchless
grace. It pleased the Father, it pleased
the Lord, to bruise Him, His only begotten Son, in whom He's
well pleased. Now you may be wondering, as
you should, well how could He die? If He truly is the Son of
God, if He's God incarnate, how could He die? How could God,
how could it be said that God died? I'm just repeating God's
Word. He died bearing our sins. And
that's what bearing sins will do. The wages of sin is death.
That's the only way He could die. He died bearing our sins
as the spotless Lamb of God. There was no guile in His mouth.
He knew no sin. But He died being made sin for
us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
He died the just for the unjust that He might bring us to God.
He died not as a sinner but as the sinner's substitute. He died
as God's sacrifice for sin. There's just one sacrifice for
sin. You may recall, I believe it's in Genesis 22, when God
commanded Abraham to take his son, his only son, Isaac, up
onto Mount Moriah and to slay him. And as they're walking up,
That boy says, Dad, I see the wood, I see the fire, where's
the lamb? We have to offer a lamb for a
burnt sacrifice. And Abraham told him, he said,
son, and here's the gospel, God will provide himself a lamb for
a burnt offering. God will do the providing and
it is himself that he will provide. And he has in the Lord Jesus
Christ, And by this one offering, Hebrews chapter 10 tells us,
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, those whom
God set apart and chose to be made holy and without blemish
in Christ. And why did he do that? Why was
God pleased to do this? It was appointed. It was appointed. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 9 says,
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ. Why didn't God just let all mankind
perish? I'll tell you why. For the glory
of God. For the glory of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, the Lamb of God. That's why he appointed us to
salvation. that we, as Ephesians 1 tells us, might be to the praise
of the glory of His grace accepted in the Beloved, accepted in Christ.
He was appointed to bear our sins, to die our death, and face
the judgment that we deserve. And we have been appointed to
forgiveness, deliverance, acceptance, salvation in him. Praise the
Lord. Praise the Lord. And back at
our text one more time. 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. Christ came. A body was prepared
for him. He came to do God's will to save
his people from their sins. He came and was offered as a
sacrifice for sins one time. He bore our sins one time. He
died one time. He's not coming back to die again. He got the job done the first
time. He cried, it is finished. When he comes back, it's going
to be without sin. Yes, he was made sin. Yes, he
was made a curse. He was made like unto his brethren.
He became us. But he's coming back without
sin, unto salvation. When he arose from the grave,
it was not possible that he should be holding of it because he made
satisfaction. by putting away the sins of all
his people. Isaiah 53 tells us he shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. And when he comes back, oh, how
glorious it will be. He's coming back victorious over
death, hell, and the grave. Now, for us, what's gonna happen
when he returns? Again, if you have your Bible,
look with me at 1 Thessalonians chapter four. This is such a
comfort to me. 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 16 says, For the Lord
himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice
of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in
Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another
with these words." What a comfort that is, because this whole message
on death and judgment and salvation, I realize we don't like to think
about these things. And as we live in this wicked
world, and as we live, as Paul declared it, in the body of this
death, seeking to be delivered from it, as we're troubled about
on every side, Let us think about this blessed, blessed appointment. Our Savior is coming back. In John 14, he told his disciples,
he said, don't let your heart be troubled. Don't let it be
afraid. He said, I'm going to prepare a place for you. Let
me remind you why I'm here in the first place. I go to prepare
a place for you. Oh, praise God, he did. And he
went on to say, and I'm gonna come back. I'm coming back, and
when I do, I'm gonna receive you unto myself. You and I are gonna dwell together
forever. He said, I'm coming back to receive
you to myself that where I am, seated on the throne in glory
and heaven's bliss, there you, a sinner saved by my grace, saved
by my blood and my righteousness, my death which I died for you,
my life which I live for you, that you might be with me." Oh,
what a day that will be. Now, who's this gonna be for?
Our text tells us it's gonna be for those that look for Him.
Unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time. I
ask you, are you looking for Him? Do you love the thought
of His appearing? By nature, we live for this world. We live for the temporal things
that we can see. But all this is going to perish.
I pray that we truly long to be with Him. I really do. Because He said if we're looking
for Him, He's going to appear unto us. We're going to be received
with Him, by Him, for Him and His glory for all eternity. Oh
my. At His appointed time, brethren,
our Lord is gonna appear unto us like He's never appeared before,
and it's gonna be glorious. It's gonna be so glorious. When
we're resurrected to be one with Him in heaven forever, oh my,
we shall see Him as He is. Imagine that. Beholding His face
in righteousness, we're gonna awake with His likeness and be
forever satisfied. Praise God, it's appointed. Amen.