I'm back to Hebrews chapter 9.
The title of this message, Christ,
the Great Sacrifice for Sin. God cannot, I don't like to use
that word, but He cannot and will not just forgive a man of
sin just because of asking. It takes
the blood of Christ to put it away. We ask for forgiveness
for what? Christ's sake. We ask God to
forgive us through the blood and the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. If you leave the blood out of
it, leave his sacrifice out of it, there's no forgiveness. No
forgiveness. The scripture says without the
shedding of blood, Without it, there's no remission of sin.
And the Son of God, and I know that one day, one day we will
stand with that throne, and we'll sing worthy is the Lamb, and
we will stand in awe of Him who loved us and gave Himself for
us. We will be absolutely awe. at the sacrifice that it took
to save us from our sins. He gave himself as a sacrifice
for our sins. In this chapter, all gives us
different types and shadows of Christ, his work, his person,
his giving of Christ under the law, that is the ceremonial law.
These ceremonies meant something. These ceremonies pointed to someone. The Jews had great evidence,
great evidence of the Messiah. A person go over and read Isaiah
53. You go over and you look at Passover
lamb. All that pointed to the Lord
Jesus Christ. All of it did. The tabernacle,
God gave them the tabernacle that spoke of Christ. Candlestick,
the table, the showbread, the sanctuary, all of it. All of
it was types and shadows, pictures of Christ. And after that, it says over
here in this chapter, down in verse 3, it says, and after the
second veil, the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of
all. God gave him a place called the
holiest of all where atonement could be made, where his presence
was represented in the holy of holies. And in that holy of holies,
the ark was in there, the golden censer, the golden pot that had
manna, and Aaron's rod that budded. In there you had the cherubims,
Overshadowing the mercy seat. All this was in there as types
and pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all these things
were ordained of God. Not the Jews. This was all of
God. God gave these things. God gave
these ceremonies. God gave these types. God gave
these pictures. This is of God. This is of God. And He gave the priest. The priesthood
and the high priest. And the priest would minister
daily in the service of God. They'd do it every day. Every
day they'd go through offerings. Every day. Offerings. They'd
go through the ceremonies. They'd do that every day. But
once a year, one time a year, the high priest would go into
the Holy of Holies to make atonement for the errors of the people,
for the sins of the people. The atonement was made outside
the Holy of Holies, and the blood was taken in, inside the Holy
of Holies. They killed the animal outside.
Just like Christ was crucified, it says, outside the game. And
they would crucify, or they would slay the Passover lamb, and then
they would take the blood, and they would take it into the Holy
of Holies. The high priest would do that one time a year. And
they did that for years. Years and years and years they
did that. And he would go in there and he'd make atonement
for himself because he was a man like everybody else. He was a
man chosen from among the people, but he was a sinful man like
everybody else. So he had to make atonement for himself and
for the people when he went in there, that old priesthood. But
by doing this, by doing this continual service, doing it year
after year, The Holy Ghost, it says, signified by this that
the way into the holiest of holies was not yet made clear, was not
yet revealed. This is not the real. This is the type. This is the
picture. This is just the type of the
one coming. This is just a picture of the
one coming. This is not going to put away sin. It does not
put away sin. I had a man say to me one time,
this has been years ago, years ago, He said, well, back in the
Old Testament, their sins were forgiven through the offering
of the blood of the goats and calves, and nowadays it's through
the blood of Christ. And this man, he professed to
believe the gospel. Not one sin was ever put away
by the blood of an animal. The blood of goats and calves,
all the thousands and thousands that were offered did not put
away one sin. It's the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ that puts away sin. These things were only figures
for a time that says then present. And it could not, it was impossible
to make the comers there unto perfect or give them a clear
and clean conscience. It couldn't do it. It couldn't
do it. Because these things were just carnal ordinances, the earthly.
Earthly is all they were. They pointed to the heavenly
They pointed to the Heavenly One, but they could not put away
sin. They were no more pure than the
One offering them. No more pure than the One doing
the service. But they were imposed until Christ
should come and fulfill every one of them. And He did. To the
jot and to the tittle, He fulfilled every picture, every type, every
shadow that spoke of Him. He's the One. And He fulfilled
it. And then in verses 11 through 22, it tells us that Christ has
come. That this One that was spoken
of through the types, the pictures, and the shadows, this Person
has come. The Messiah has come. The Great
High Priest has come. And He's fulfilled all these
things. He has completed the work when He gave up ghost on Calvary's
tree right before doing so. He cried out, it's finished.
It's finished. Nothing else left to be done.
It's finished. All the types are finished. All
the shadows are finished. All the work is finished. The
work of redemption is finished, he said. No other priest could
say that. He had to do it again next year.
We'll meet again next year at this time. That's what they would
say. Well, we'll see you next year.
We've got to do this again next year. Because they couldn't put
away sin. But Christ, He has come. The one that appointed
Him. And He, my friend, has fulfilled
it all. He has put away sin. My, what
a comfort. What a joyful song. Christ has
put away sin. If we could see sin, As God sees
sin, it would change our services. I promise you, it would change.
I'm not talking about myself. It would change my preaching.
It wouldn't change the doctor. I'm talking about heart. I'm
talking about the heart we'd have in worship and preaching
and singing. If we could see sin as God sees
sin and know that He put that away, it's gone. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away and gone? My, my, my. He's the only one that could
do that. He says in verse 23, For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands. That old tabernacle. He did not
enter the same place that all the other high priests for years
and years and years. They all entered that same place. That tabernacle would follow
them around. And they built the temple. But he did not enter
there. He did not enter there. Listen.
He entered. Our Lord, our great high priest,
who represented us, he entered heaven itself. A real man, bone by bone, flesh
of our flesh, has entered in to the holy presence of God for
us. For us. He didn't enter in there
in hopes of somebody getting saved. That somebody might get
saved. He entered for us. He appeared there in the presence
of God for us. Not all of Adam's race. This is what upsets people. But
it's some. It's some. I tell you this, all
of Adam's race left to themselves despises Him. He is despised
and rejected of men. If God, you know this, if God
leaves men and women to themselves, not one, not one wants to be
saved from sin. We want to be safe from trouble.
We want to be safe from going to hell. We want to be safe from
a place. But to be safe from myself, to
be safe from sin, We may, like God, be one with God again. That's
what salvation is. Salvation is to be made one with
God. To be united to God. We were separated in Adam. And,
of course, we separated ourselves by seeing that Christ has brought
us together. He's the mediator. He brought
the two together. We can fellowship with God Almighty now in Christ,
through the great high priest, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant. Fellowship with God Almighty.
And He can fellowship with us. God can be a just God and have
something to do with people like me and you. He can do that. He entered heaven itself where
the majestic, holy presence of God is. No other high priest could do
that. No other one. He's the only one that was able
to do it. He's the only one. And he did not have to offer
himself many times. You see the high priest, they
do it once a year. They go in there and make this
offering once a year. They do it over and over and
over. He did it one time. Because it was perfect. There's
no blemish in it. He's the Son of God. He's God
incarnate. And what he did, he did perfectly.
And so he offered one time, he offered one offering for sin
one time. He did once. Once. He didn't have to do it many
times, he did it one time. He entered one time with his
own blood. Not the blood of bulls and goats.
Even if he offered the blood of bulls and goats, he wouldn't
have saved you. It's his own blood. It came from his own veins. One time, I stabbed myself in the arm.
That's why I was a kid. I thought I was going to die.
The blood was rolling down my arm. I'd gotten weak, faint,
about passed out looking at it. That was my blood running out
of my arm, going down, just flowing down my arm. His own blood came
out of his own body. Brought out of there by torment.
Brought out of there by torture. Brought out of there by whip.
And it's that blood that makes atonement for the soul. That
blood. Not the blood of bulls, goats,
and calves, but His own blood. Therefore, there's no more offering
for sin. But now once, verse 26, but now once, in the end
of the world, We are in the end of the world. We're in the end
of it. Hath He appeared? He's come,
the Son of God, the promised Messiah, the hope of Israel,
the Holy One of Israel. He hath appeared. And He hath
appeared to put away sin. That's what He appeared for the
first time. We have two appearances here.
The first time He appeared to put away... Actually, He had
three appearances. He appeared to put away sin, He appeared
in the Holy of Holies, and He's going to appear again. He's going
to appear again. One more time. He's going to
appear one more time. We'll look at this here in just
a second. But now, once in the end of the world has He appeared
to put away sin, how? By the sacrifice of Himself.
Not just saying, you're forgiven. Something has to happen. Somebody
has to pay for that sin forgiven. And he paid for it. He paid the
sin debt. He took my health. He took my
torment. He took my punishment that I
might go free. He did that for every one of
his sheep. He took the wrath of God. You
know, when the end of all this comes, they're going to cry for
the rocks in the mountains that says to fall on them. Hide them
from the wrath of the land. We don't have to fear that. Believers
don't have to. His face is going to be beautiful
to us. He's going to be admired by us. He who took our judgment. We have nothing to fear now.
Nothing to fear. Many goats and calves were offered
Since the beginning of Christ Jesus came one time to die. He came one time to die. That's
what he came to do. He came into this world for one
purpose. To die. The first time. He came to die.
He came to offer himself as a sacrifice for sin. One time. Just one time. Never was enough. And now I want
us to look at some things here. in verses 26 through 28. I want
us to see the first time He came. I want us to see the difference
in the first time He appeared and the second time He appears.
The first time He appeared, over in Isaiah 53, He appears as what? A tinder plant. As a root out
of dry ground. Have you ever seen a root out
of dry ground? Cracked? Scuffed? That's what a root out
of dry ground looks like. He appeared the first time as
a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground. But the second
time, the second time the Lord Jesus Christ appeared, it's going
to be as Almighty God. Almighty God. The first time
He appeared, they laid Him in a manger. There was no place
for Him to lay His head. There was no place for Him. He
had to go to a barn. And it put him in a barn. But
now the second time, the whole host of heaven is going to be
with him. It was just him over that barn and just a handful
of people there. Joseph, Mary, they may have been
the only ones there, just them two at that time. Next time the
whole host of heaven is going to be with this one. The first time he was poor. Poor. He had no place, it says, to
lay his head. That's because of me and you.
He had no place to lay his head. The second time, he's a royal
king of heaven, owner of all things. The first time he came
into this world, he was despised and rejected. The next time,
he's going to be admired by all fifth saints. Two different appearances. Two different. First time, he
was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. This next time, this
second time, victorious monarch. Oh, what a difference. What a
difference. The first time, they cried out,
crucify him! Crucify him! The second time,
he'll be worthy as the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. The first time they said, we
will not have this man reign over us. Oh, the second time, all hail
the power of Jesus' name. That's what we're going to say. The first time, it says over in Scripture, over
in Job, all they that see me laugh me to scorn. Over there
in the Psalms. But the second time, He's going
to be altogether lovely. Altogether lovely. The first time He appeared, He
appeared to be judged. The second time, He's going to
be the judge. He took judgment the first time. He's going to
deal out judgment the second time. The first time He came to bear
the sin of many. It says over in Isaiah 53, The second time, he's going to
divide the spoil. He's going to divide the spoil with the
straw. The first time, he came to work
out righteousness for his people. The second time, he's going to
deal out righteousness. He's going to deal righteously
with every man. He's going to deal righteously
with them. The first time, he came to hang on a cross and die.
The second time, He's going to live and reign forever. He's
the reigning Christ. First time, He was left alone.
His first appearing, He came, He was defied, rejected, knelt
to a cross, He was left alone. But, oh, this second time. His
second appearing, He's going to be with an innumerable company
of angels. Innumerable. The first time He came. He came
to open. To open the way unto the holiest
of all. He came to open it. The second
time He was going to shut it. He opened the door.
The second time He was going to shut the door. Put an end
to all things. Then He says here in verse 27,
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, But after this,
the judgment. We all have an appointment to
meet with death. We all have this appointment.
We don't know what day it is. God knows. God's the one who
made the appointment. He made the appointment for us.
Our day of death is marked. Our day of death is set. It is
appointed of God. He made the appointment and He'll
keep every one of the appointments He makes. Every one of them. It cannot and will not be overlooked. It will not be forgotten. For
God's the one who'll keep it. He's the one who'll keep it.
When that appointed time comes, Job says that when my appointed
time comes, it's an appointed time, we will go the way of all
flesh. That is, we'll go to the grave.
We'll go to the grave. But it doesn't stop there. It
doesn't stop in the grave. He says there's a judgment. There's
a judgment for men and women to face. Everyone outside of
Christ, just like everyone outside the Ark, is going to face judgment. That's real. Judgment is real. He said, after this, the judgment.
And Christ is going to be the judge. You see, He came the first
time to be judged. Judgment was passed upon Him.
The second time, He's the judge. He's going to be the judge at
this tribunal. both of the quick and the dead. But here's what I know in verse
28. This death that's appointed is
finality. This judgment that's after death. The poor
and lonely man wants to die and after this is the judgment. And
what he's saying here is this. Christ has died. Christ has died and judgment
has passed upon Him. We don't have to worry about
it. Believers, those who believe God, those who are born of God,
He died our death and took our judgment. You won't die. The believer will not die. I
know this body will die. This body is getting older and
older and it's getting Weaker, decaying. But that inner man is not. That
new man is not. That new man is never going to
die. We're going to drop this tabernacle and as soon as death
happens, as soon as it happens, we'll be present with the Lord.
It'll just be switching places. It'll be going from this place
of sin and death and corruption and all the stuff that goes on
here, goes on inward and outward, all that stuff will be gone. And we'll be forever, it says,
with the Lord. That's where we'll be. We'll be with Him. Judgment and death, our death,
our judgment was passed upon Him. Christ died. As it is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this is judgment. So Christ,
he's speaking here of Christ. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many. He bore their sins. He put them
away. He put them away. And to everyone, here's a second
appearing. To everyone that's looking for
Him. Are you looking for Him? I thought about that as I looked
at this. Am I looking for Him? I know this. If I'm His and you're
His, we're looking for Him. Now, there are things that take
our attention. All day long today, my mind has
just been somewhere else. I thought, I'm not fit to preach
tonight. I've been dealing with this business and selling this
thing to men. He's been writing up things all
day long. talking to the lawyer, talking to accountants, and I
thought, I've got to go preach tonight. I did. I sat there working,
coming around four o'clock, and I thought, I'll tell you this, through the
ups and downs, and all that comes our way, and
all the trouble, we're looking for Him. Sometimes our eyes get a little
dim because of things that get in the way. But we are looking
for Him. And to those who are looking
for Him, He will appear. And you won't be disappointed.
You will not be disappointed. Not at all. Looking for Him. To those who are looking, to
them that look for Him, shall He appear the second time. Oh,
the second time. Oh, I tell you, the first time
He came, there really wasn't too many people looking for Him,
Simeon, but he didn't know who he was until he saw him. But
he was looking for him. There was a few, there was a
handful looking for him, not many. But to those who looked
for him, he shall appear. Simeon's looking for him, and
he appeared. He looked at that baby in his
arms and he said, Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace.
Now let me die. He said, Lord, it's a good day
to die. I've seen thy salvation. I've seen thy salvation. Oh,
looking. You know, looking involves trusting. We look for Him. We trust Him
to come. He said He would. Did He say He would? Well, He'll
be here. He'll show up. He'll come. He said He would. It involves
expecting. I fully expect Jesus Christ to
appear. Do you fully expect that? Now whether he appears in our
lifetime and puts an end to all this or not, he's going to appear
in a little while and take me home and take you home in a little
while. If we live to be 100, it's just
a little while. He's going to appear. It involves
hope. Hope. Hope is there. It's full
confidence. It's just full confidence that
he's going to appear. He's going to appear. Cole was
over at the house the night before last. Vicki was in South Carolina. And I said, she's going to be
back tomorrow. She's coming back tomorrow. He
goes, she coming back tomorrow? I said, yeah. And her face was
just bright. I mean, it was bright. It just
lit up. Expecting, hoping, expecting
it's going to happen. Papa, you said it's going to
happen. It's going to happen. Well, God said it's going to
happen. Christ said, I'll go away and prepare a place for
you. If I go away and prepare a place for you, I'll come again. He said, I'll come again. I'll
come and get you. He shall appear. And He's going to appear in person.
He's not going to send somebody after you. That's what somebody
does who thinks they're better than you. They send somebody
after you. You know, I used to run a business
for a guy and things didn't go quite right. He sent a car after
you. He'd send a black car after you. And you had to get in the
car and go down and talk to him. And his motto was, the dime waits
on the dollar. That's what he let you know it
to. You're the dime, I'm the dollar. That was his attitude. And the dime waits on the dollar.
And he'd send a car after you. He's coming in person. He's coming
in person. He don't have this downwards
on the dollar attitude. That's men. That's wicked men. He's coming and he's going to
come in person. When he appeared the first time,
just a handful was looking for him. And the rest missed him. This second time, this second
time, everyone that's born of God is looking for Him. And He's
going to appear. And you know how He's going to
appear? You know how He's going to appear this second time? I
gave you a list of things. Without sin. That's a powerful statement.
He was made to be sin for us. Those who look for Him, He shall
appear the second time. It doesn't say without the trace
of it, or the knowledge of it, or the imputation of it. It says
without sin. Because the first time, sin was...
He was made to be sin. This time, gone. Gone. Put away. Completely put away. The sin
issue has already been taken care of. We won't have to deal
with that. Don't have to worry about that.
That's already been taken care of. Already been taken care of. When He comes
again, it will be nothing but full salvation. Full salvation. The experience of it. We have
full salvation in Him now. But we'll have the full experience
of it. We'll experience that new body.
A new body. Can you imagine that? The older I get, the more I appreciate
that. When I was young, I'm telling you, I thought I was something. You
think you're strong, you're fast, Just let a few years roll by
and you can appreciate a new body and a new mind and the mind
of Christ. Can you imagine being able to
think perfectly? To be able to have a perfect
mind, a perfect thoughts of God, perfect worship of God. Not just,
I mean, I'm talking about inwardly. A real perfect inward worship
of God. That's what we have. And that's to everyone who's
looking for Him. Not everyone who's looking to
go to a certain place. Not everyone who's looking to
go to an eternal vacation. But everyone who's looking for
Him. Everyone who's looking for Him.
They want Him. Have you seen Him? whom my soul
loveth. Well, to them he shall appear.
He shall appear. RSS.