I will turn with me to the book
of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 9. I'd like to read beginning with verse
24 of chapter 9 and read down through the end of the chapter. For Christ is not entered into
the holy place made with hands, which are the figures of the
truth, 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 entereth into the holy place
every year with the blood of others. For then must he often
have 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 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. We're told in verse 26 that at
the first appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ that he died for
sin to put it away. He died for sin to put it away. I hope those words will find
a place of lodging in our hearts this morning. The Lord Jesus
at his first appearance in this world came here, sent of God,
anointed of God and blessed of God to have a body in which he
might lay it upon the altar of God and provide for us cleansing
and forgiveness of our sin. Now in verse 24 he mentions that
the Lord Jesus is now appearing in the presence of God for us. Now we know that the Lord Jesus
after he was crucified that he was buried and God raised him
from the dead. He was raised from the dead.
We believe that. That is a doctrine of our faith.
We believe in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from
the dead. And we believe that after he
was resurrected that he was caught up. He was caught up to be at
the right hand of the Father in heaven, there to be in the
presence of God as our friend, as our advocate. The Lord Jesus
appearing now in the presence of God for us. It's wonderful
to have somebody like the Lord Jesus to be our advocate. The
Bible says He is Jesus Christ the righteous. the righteous. Now if you wanted somebody to
pray for you, I believe you'd sort out, you'd look through,
you would attempt to find somebody who was righteous, wouldn't you?
You'd want somebody to address a holy God that was righteous. Well the Lord Jesus is that righteous
one and he is praying today for all of his people. The Bible
says in Hebrews 7 and 25 that he is able to save to the uttermost
all that come into God by Him, seeing that He ever liveth to
make intercession for them. That's the reason why He's able
to save such people as you and I. It's because He's alive at
the right hand of the Father and He's there as our friend
and advocate. He's there pleading His own blood
on our behalf at the mercy seat. And then we're told in verse
28 that He's going to appear back here in this world again
the Lord Jesus is coming again he was once offered to bear the
sin of many that was the first time he came and into them that
look for him and the church that is the posture of the church
they're looking for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. They
believe in His coming. They believe that He that shall
come will come and will not tarry. We believe we're in the end times
and the coming of Jesus is imminent. We believe He's coming back to
this earth and we believe as God's people that is the hope
of the church. That is our hope. He's coming
to receive us unto Himself. Now when He comes back The Bible
here says that he's coming back without sin unto salvation the
second time. Without sin unto salvation. Now what that means is he's completely
finished with dealing with our sin. He's no longer going to
deal with sin. He's done with it. He's finished
with it. He took care of that the first
time He was coming. And so when He comes back, it's
going to be without sin. He's going to be dealing with
something completely different. Because we have in the Lord Jesus
Christ the sin debt paid the first time He was here in the
world. We know the first time as a babe,
He came in humiliation. He came and submitted Himself
to the will of the Father. He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. He now appears before God as
our High Priest. In His second coming though to
this earth, His triumph will be evident. His victory over
sin complete, and all of His enemies will become His footstool. He will raise the dead in power
by the voice of His mouth, even as He raised Lazarus from the
grave long ago. And all that the Father has given
Him shall be made like Him in a moment, in the twinkling of
an eye, at the last trump. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse
15 through 17 tells us, and he shall take out of this world
many sons home to glory. Isn't that the day we're looking
for? That day of the coming of the Lord Jesus when he shall
change these vile bodies that they may be fashioned like unto
his own glorious body. That day when the Lord Jesus
shall come triumphant And when He shall come having the victory,
and when He will come to receive His people home to the Father,
all that the Father has given Him, the Bible says He shall
lose nothing, but shall raise it up again at the last day. Now isn't that a marvelous, wonderful,
assuring thought? that all that the Father has
given Him, He'll lose nothing. He'll lose nothing. He's coming
back for us because He will lose nothing and He's going to raise
them all up at the last day. That's a glorious word of assurance
for the Lord's people. Now the subject this morning
I want to speak on Him putting away sin by the sacrifice of
Himself. I want to talk about this. I
couldn't wait to get here to talk about my Lord Jesus Christ
putting away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And I questioned
myself as to why that I was so anxious to get here to talk about
this subject. and I came to the conclusion
that it was because I am a sinner myself and therefore it's joyous
and wonderful to be able to read in the Word of God how that the
Lord Jesus Christ laid down, became a sacrifice Himself in
order to put away sin forever. Now this message will bring joy,
I believe, to anyone here whose conscience This morning is troubled
with sin. Is your conscience troubled with
sin? If your sin has not been put away, your conscience is
troubled. It's bound to be. You feel a
sense of guilt. You feel this morning a heavy
weight, a load upon you, knowing that as soon as you leave this
world, you're going off to the presence, in the presence of
a thrice holy God, and there must give an account of all of
your sin. Has your sin been put away? Now if you're sensitive to the
teaching of verse 27, Look at verse 27, and it is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. Now the Apostle
Paul inserted this here to show that it is ordained that men
die once. It is ordained that they die
once. That is a physical death. And
therefore the Lord Jesus only died once, not many, many times
as the beast and the sacrifices that were offered in the Old
Testament by the priest. They had to keep on dying, keep
on dying and suffering. But the Lord Jesus died once. It is destined that men die once. You're going to die. And the
Bible says after this judgment death and then judgment now if
you're sensitive to this teaching here then my friend if you're
sensitive to the truth of the curse brought on by sin then
if you can hear the rolling thunder of the impending wrath of God
coming upon your soul in judgment then it should be a joy to your
soul to hear of the one who has come on purpose to put away sin. This message is for such as you
and I that are hopelessly sinful if viewed from any other aspect
short of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. I say it's for
all of us, every one of us this morning, that view ourselves
as the Bible pictures us and that is dead in sin, lost in
sin, without any righteousness of our own, without anything
to commend us to God, we come and we rejoice that one has died
in our place, that one has satisfied the Father, and that we're free
from the condemnation of our sin. Now, beloved, if your house
was on fire, I believe you would rejoice to hear the fire truck
coming down the road because you'd feel certain that they
were on their way to your place. You'd feel certain of that. And
the news of Jesus Christ coming into this world in the flesh
to put away sin sounds, I believe, like the joyful blast of the
silver trumpets of jubilee to those who know themselves to
be sinners. This truth that Jesus Christ
puts away sin, I believe is wonderful and joyous news to those who
know themselves to be sinners. Now I realize there's people
that live in this world who are not conscious of the fact that
they are sinners. I once talked to a gentleman,
not very long ago, that told me that there was a day when
he heard somebody quote Romans 3.23, all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God, and he said it's the first time in
his life that he ever heard such a statement as that. all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. And it wasn't long
until the Lord saved him because he became conscious of the fact
that he was a sinner before God. And so if you this morning are
conscious, I mean if you're enlightened to the degree that you know yourself
to be a sinner, then my friend I believe that there is some
hope for you this morning because you will be able to follow in
this message and will be looking for this core of truth that tells
us that Christ came to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Oh that today God the Holy Spirit
would make the preaching of Christ to you to be the opening of the
prison to those that are bound by sin. Now the first thing in
the text which should be, I think, should hold us spellbound and
get our attention is this, and get the attention of any trembling
sinner here in this building this morning is that Jesus Christ
did not come into the world to deny the fact of sin, the fact
of human sin. He didn't come into the world
to deny the fact of it. We hear preachers and God have
mercy upon the preachers of our generation that tells us that
they never did sin themselves and that they wouldn't even allow
their church members to even sing a song that indicated that
they were sinners. God have mercy upon. Jesus Christ
himself came into this world recognizing the truth of human
sin. He did not come to deny it or
to propagate a philosophy which might make sin appear harmless
and define it as a mere mistake, perhaps a calamity, but by no
means a hell-deserving crime. No, no. Well, Jesus didn't come
for that purpose. I heard just recently about a
famous preacher, so-called, on the West Coast that said he never
broke one of God's laws in his life and that he never did commit
a sin. Now this is a preacher talking
this way that has a glass church building, if you please, and
this man is telling the world that he never committed a sin.
Well, my friend, I want you to know that Jesus Christ believed
that sin was a hell-deserving crime. That's what he believed.
And he came into this world to put away sin, not to deny it. No, he did not come to help you
forget your sin. Somebody said, well, I hope to
forget sooner or later. that I have been a lawbreaker
and that I have sinned. I hope to forget that. My friend,
the Lord Jesus didn't come to help you forget the fact that
you're a sinner. No, if you could be reminded
of it this morning, say, Preacher, I'd rather you not remind me
of my sin and my failures. Well, beloved, all of us are
failures. All of us have sinned and come
short, come short, come short of the glory of God. And so the
Lord Jesus didn't come to enable us to forget the fact that we're
sinners. And I think it's the right thing,
don't you, for a preacher to stand up and tell people, to
remind people of their sin in order that they might seek forgiveness
and find pardon through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
did not come to lull us into a false peace, but to give us
a real deliverance from sin by putting it away and to bring
a true peace between you and God. for sin be put away. Then, beloved, isn't it wonderful
that peace is lawful? It is lawful for a man to have
some peace. Hallelujah! For a man to have
some peace and for him to be able to rest in his soul because
his sin has been lawfully put away. The Lord Jesus put it away
and because He put it away, it's alright for me to have some rest
and for me to have some peace in this world. I don't have to
worry about it anymore. I don't have to fret about it.
I don't have to be afraid of dying and go before a holy God
and being cast into the lake of fire. I don't have to worry
about it because peace is lawful. because the Lord Jesus Christ
came and put away sin. We preach through the Lord Jesus
a real cure for sin. We preach a sure and certain
deliverance from all of the danger that now hangs over our heads
due to sin. A certain cure from it all. He came to put away sin. Now
this putting away of sin, what does it mean? What does it mean? Well this phrase in the English
version is used in reference to an unfaithful wife when she
was put away. Her husband gave her a bill of
divorcement and she was no longer his wife. Until that divorcement
was made, she was his lawful wife, bone of his bone, flesh
of his flesh, and under the law, they were regarded as one until
the divorce came. But as soon as a lawful divorce
was given, she had no relation to him anymore than any other
woman had to him. Now sin, before Christ comes,
is, as it were, married to us. It pollutes us. For its filthiness,
beloved, we are responsible. We've committed it. It is linked
to us. as we're bone to our bone and
flesh to our flesh. But oh, the blessedness of the
fact that Christ has proclaimed, hear it, an everlasting divorce
between our souls and our sins. He has put them away so that
their dread and responsibility lies no longer upon us. Now did you get that? The Lord
Jesus Christ has divorced us from sin. Divorced us from it
so that it's put away. So that we are no longer responsible
for it. No longer do we have to answer
to God for it. because the Lord Jesus Christ
was answering for it when he laid down his body on the altar
of God. When he laid down himself, and
what was the altar of God? The old rugged cross. He laid
down upon it, was nailed to the old rugged cross. He took the
responsibility of our sin upon himself. Now I'm glad that I'm
not responsible for sin. Now, I've never been able to
successfully manage sin. Have you? Never? Listen, we're
not able to manage it. There isn't anybody that can
manage it. Sin has a way of dominating. It dominates until it ruins,
yea, until it kills the soul. It has a way of doing that. And
no man can control or handle sin. It'll get the best of you. It will ruin you. Oh, you say,
well, I'm young and strong and I can handle it. Listen, my friend,
the only way that sin can be handled is for the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Infinite One, to take it upon Himself to put it
away. Sin must be put away. And the
Lord Jesus, our sins are no longer ours anymore than a woman is
a man's wife after a divorce. Jesus must divorce us from the
guilt of our sin. And only then will we be free
from it. Now let us look at the putting
away. It's a very hard thing to put away sin. A very hard
thing to put away sin. Well, let me remind you that
all the Jewish sacrifices never could do it. All of those animals
throughout the Old Testament, married, they were costly sometimes. Thousands of bullocks were slaughtered
But after one day of atonement, one day of atonement, they were
free for 365 days. They were sure that the atonement
had been accepted and they were free for 365 days. Their conscience
wasn't purged from their guilt, but nevertheless, the judgment
of God they knew would not fall upon them for their sin for 365
days because atonement had been made, but once that year passed,
it had to be offered again. It must be offered again, because
it's impossible, the Bible says, that the blood of bulls and goats
could ever take away sin. Now, my friend, if sin had been
put away, there would have been an end of the sufferings. There wouldn't have been any
more of these sacrifices made. There's an end of paying only
when the debt is discharged by somebody who has the means of
discharging it. Somebody who has the means to
pay the debt. Now there is an end of punishment
when the penalty is fulfilled. Now it's destined, man is destined. We just read it this morning
in our text. Man is destined to die once. He must. And in order for the
Lord Jesus Christ to spare me and put an end to punishment
and penalty, he must die that one death. he must die that one
death. It wasn't necessary that he die
again and again and again like the animals in the Old Testament
because this man had an infinite offering to make. This man offered
himself. This is the spotless Lamb of
God. This is the Lamb of God without
blemish. This is the Lamb of God that
was absolutely ordained by the Father to please, to satisfy
completely His holy justice. And my friend, the end of punishment
comes when the penalty is fulfilled. Judgment fell at Calvary. The Lord Jesus Christ suffered
Judgment at Calvary. He died on the cross and therefore,
my friend, the sin is put away. There's an end of propitiation
when God is satisfied. And God is satisfied. My friend, it's wonderful to
be able to stand as a preacher and tell you that God the Father,
the holy, the thrice holy God of heaven is satisfied. Aren't you glad? He's satisfied. He's not any longer looking for
a sacrifice. He's not any longer looking for
a payment. The payment's been made and the
books have been settled up. Hallelujah the books have been
settled up and God is satisfied and he's not looking to me for
anything anymore He's not he gave up on my flesh, and that's
one of the meanings of the cross Christ was crucified in the flesh
He hung on the cross the just for the unjust that he might
bring us to God Well, my friend, what I'm trying to show you is
that all the Jewish sacrifices could not take away sin, but
Christ could. And that's why David said, Thou
desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it. Thou delightest
not in burnt offerings. You see it right over there in
chapter 10. Brother Randy read it to us a
few minutes ago. He said that wherefore when he
cometh in verse 5 into the world he saith sacrifice and offerings
thou wouldest not but a body has thou prepared me Jesus said
in all these sacrifices and offerings of the Old Testament He said
you would not you wouldn't satisfied with them You was not satisfied. You was not completely satisfied.
The justice of God was only postponed. The wrath of God only postponed
until Jesus came. And then Jesus said, hast thou
prepared me, you made me a body in the womb of the Virgin Mary,
burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, you had no pleasure,
you had no pleasure, had no pleasure at all. Then said I, I come in
the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will
O God, you had a will, for me and Jesus said I come to do that
will above when he said Sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings
and offerings for sin you would not neither had pleasure therein
Which are offered by the law then he said lo I come to do
thy will I come to do what your will Dictated that I were to
do. Oh God He take it the way the
first took away the first covenant that he may establish that which
was better and which was more perfect which was perfect, which
was the second covenant, the new covenant, the covenant of
grace. And by the which will, in verse
10, we are sanctified, set apart unto God through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Once for all, Jesus
Christ offered himself once for all, setting aside the people
that had been given to him in the love covenant before the
foundation of the world, they were set aside in that covenant
and their sins were put away. Now that's what the word of God
teaches. It's a hard thing to put away sin. And it cannot be
put away by all the old Jewish sacrifices. Next, let me say
further that no form of suffering in this world can put away sin.
No form of suffering in this world can put away sin. You think
that you're suffering for your sin now, maybe. There may be
somebody here that says, now preacher, if I'm not suffering
for my sin, what in the world is going on in my life? Now let me explain to you that
regardless of whatever's happened to you, regardless of whatever
pain you're enduring, whatever affliction you're enduring, whatever
tests and trials and difficulties and adversities and struggles
and storms that you're going through in your life, my friend,
you're not paying for your sin. You are not paying for your sin. The songwriter said, could your
tears forever flow, could your grief no rest but know, all for
sin could not atone, Christ must save and Christ alone. Now beloved you might be as poor
as Lazarus, but that would not atone for your sin. You say,
I'm poor preaching, you may be, but that'll never atone for your
sin. It never will. You cannot, poverty, my friend,
will not in any way wipe out the debt that one has incurred
to God for breaking his holy law. It will not. And suffering,
your suffering will not do it. You might suffer as much as Job. And Job said, I abhor myself
in dust and ashes. But yet, this suffering will
not take away sin. It will not put away your sin. It won't. Next, nor can any form
of self-denial, however terrible, it won't put away your sin. Self-denial. You know, people are always talking
about giving up something. People are talking, if I give
up this, the Lord will favor me. If I give up that, the Lord
will favor me. If I deny myself something here
that I really want, terribly bad, surely God's going to put
away my sin and He won't hold against me the things that I've
done. Micah 6, verse 6 and 7 says, Wherewith shall I come before
the Lord? Wherewith shall I come before
the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before
him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? And in
verse 7, will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with
ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for
my transgression, the fruit of my body, for the sin of my soul? Shall I make this terrible sacrifice,
this self-denial of giving up my children for the sin of my
soul? And the answer, of course, no
avail. It will not put away your sin.
It won't do it. It may further impress your mind
for me to say that holy living from this day forth cannot put
away sin. You say preacher I resolve today
to live a perfect life from here to the day of eternity, the first
day of eternity. I resolve to do it. Well, I would
say amen to your resolve. I doubt your ability to follow
through. But I would say amen to your
resolve. But the question is this. If you were to live a perfect
life from here to the first day of eternity, what are you going
to do about the debt you've already incurred? What about that debt?
How are you going to pay that debt? And you do owe a debt unto
God. You were born in sin, and in
sin your mother conceived you, and you came forth into this
world speaking lies. You were a sinner by nature,
born that way. And you've incurred debt to God.
And you cannot pay it off by living a good life from here
on out. And I know of so many people,
my soul, the blindness that is in this world, the blindness
that's in the hearts of religious people that they think you can
just try to get better and better and better as long as you live
and surely it's going to mean something. It ain't going to
mean a thing when it comes to a holy God. because you've got
a debt that you can't pay. You have been involved in original
sin and you've sinned in your life and the debt will have to
be paid. Now, let me say further here,
and you listen carefully, not even your death can put away
your sin. Think about it. Not even your
death. I'm telling you it's a hard thing
to put away sin. I'm telling you we're going to
find out before we're done here this morning that there's only
one in one and one only we can find the answer to how sin can
be put away. Now listen to me. Death puts
away a great deal. It does. I mean there's a lot
of people that when they die There's people, although they
don't go around clapping their hands about, they're glad. Because
the fellow was a menace. He was a plague. Maybe he was
a curse. Old people puts away a lot of
things. It does. But my friend, death never did
kill a single sin. Never did. Let me explain. Sin
is immortal. It's immortal. Until the immortal
Christ comes to deal with it. It's immortal. Death cannot put
away sin. No rich man died, the Bible says
in Luke 16, and was buried, but no sin of his was buried with
him in the grave. Because the Bible says in hell
he lifted up his eyes and his sins were there to torture him
and to torment him and to condemn him everlasting. His sin was
right there. It was right there. I'm telling
you, death will not put away sin. Now this will shock you,
but hell itself cannot put away sin. I told you it's hard to
put away sin. And even hell itself cannot put
away sin. All the lost who died in the
flood of Noah's day, you know something? They're sinners still
to this day. still their sin. They're still
paying for their sin. Their sin is still upon them
and the justice, the inflexible justice of God is still meeting
out punishment unto their soul. And after all the ages of suffering
that they've endured, not a sin less is upon them now than there
was at the first. What a sobering Sobering thought
Sobering indeed if you and I die and go to hell through ages on
ages may lapse and the wrath of God be poured out upon us
to the uttermost there will never be the destruction of a single
sin or particle of a sin by at all not one sin a particle of
one sin by all the sufferings that we'll endure Sin cannot
be put away until the penalty of sin is born to the end. To the end. And that never can
be by finite man. In this life, or in hell, that
penalty can never be born to the end. By you, it can never
be born to the end. There was only one who could
bear in his body the just for the unjust, our sin and our guilt,
and pay for it. What a work he did. What a wonderful
work he did. The God-man. I'm talking about
the God-man. I'm talking about the Christ
of God. Our monster sins. Our horrible sins. Our damnable
sins. There was difficulty in deeding
and putting away these sins. But Christ did it. He did it.
He put them away. A divorce is what it took. He had to put it away. Put it
away. Take our sin and put it away
as only the God-man could. Now Christ has put away the sin
of all of his people. It is a fact of Scripture. The
Word of God teaches it plainly. as a debt is annihilated when
it is paid, so the debts that we owe to justice were abrogated,
annihilated, and ceased to be because Jesus Christ to the uttermost
farthing paid whatever his people owed. To the uttermost farthing
paid. I'm telling you it's a fact of
Scripture, you don't have to take my word for it. If you be
one of the sheep Jesus Christ has put away your sin, all of
it, in all respects. Before God, you're accepted as
if you were innocent. You're even regarded as if you
were something more than innocent. Namely, you are actively spoken
of in the Scriptures to be righteous through the Lord, our righteousness. Oh dear Jesus, dear Jesus, be
Thou our righteousness, dear God-man Jesus, be Thou our sin! The Lord Jesus, you know the
Bible says, He was made sin. He must be your sin. He must die as you would have
died on the tree. He must suffer death as you,
destined by the providence and will of God to die. He had to
die for you. Death to sin. So may He be our
righteousness and may He be our sin. We speak it respectfully. Your sin, if you're in Christ,
is so put away that now you're deprived of nothing. that sin
can deprive you of before you have the access in prayer that
sin once prohibited you from having. I like what it says here
in the Word of God. He says that in verse 21, let's
back up here to verse 19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. boldness
we can come right into the presence of God now just come right in
because through the veil of his flesh his flesh veil was rent
and therefore because the veil of his flesh was rent the way
is open you can come right in to the presence of God deprived
of nothing that your sin formerly deprived you of You say, can
I pray for you? I mean, you mean I can go into
God's presence? Hallelujah, you can go into God's
presence. You can walk right in. Walk right in. We're not
being disrespectful. I'm telling you that your sin
has been put away. There isn't anything that can
deprive you now of coming into the presence of God. Do you want
to come into His presence? Walk right in. Go right in. Now listen to what this says.
Having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiness by
the blood of Jesus by this new and living way which he has consecrated
for us through the veil that is to say his flesh. We just
mentioned that. And having a high priest over
the house of God. Jesus is the high priest in that
house of God in heaven. He's the high priest there. And
listen to this. Let us draw near. Let us draw
near with a true heart in full assurance, let us draw near with
a heart that's been affected by this truth. Let us draw near
with the conviction that the way is open. And we can come. We will not be deprived. Nobody
will stop us and say, you can't come in here. No, no, no. He said, come in with a true
heart and full assurance of faith. Telling everybody, I've got access
to God. I can come into the presence
of God. I'm God's child. Jesus bought me, paid for my
sin, suffered hell in my place, and I'm saved. I'm God's child. Full assurance of faith. Having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. No longer in
our hearts feeling guilty of sin, past sin, and present affliction
and sin. No longer feeling that guilt.
but walking right in, as he said, before he's faithful to promise,
because the God that promised this will make it good, just
like he said. He said, this is what's happened.
He said, there's a new and living way. He says, not like it was
back in the days of the tabernacle on earth. No, there's been a
better sacrifice offered, and that is the sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Come on in to the presence of
God. There's nothing. Access to prayer.
We're brought nigh. by the blood, and you enjoy the
favor of God, you enjoy nearness to God, you enjoy relationship
to God, even as if you had never fallen and had no part, whatever,
in original sin. And I'm telling you the truth.
I told you that's what these verses mean. You study them. You think about them. God's people,
their sin has been put away. I'm extolling the Lord Jesus
Christ. I'm telling you that this man,
the Lord Jesus, offered a sacrifice by which we have been made perfect
and complete before God. He offered this sacrifice. He
offered it. Hereby perceive we the love of
God, verse John 3 and 16, because He what? Laid down His life for
us. John 10 says that He laid down
His life for His sheep. Laid it down. Laid it down. Sacrifice of Himself. Now when sin was put away, all
the effects of sin in detriment and loss to us before God was
virtually wiped out, was put away from us. If you and I are
saved, pardoned, redeemed, then we're so saved, pardoned, redeemed
that none can ever condemn us in time or eternity. None can
lay anything and bring it back and say you're charged with this.
You're charged with it. We got something against you.
You're charged with it. Nobody can do that. No charge. No condemnation. Preaching on last Sunday. No
condemnation. I said that was a bold assertion.
I said it was a joyful assertion. I said it was an eternal assertion.
It is! No condemnation to them which
are in the Lord Jesus Christ. So then, the bliss of this. It is Christ that died. Well,
how did he do this? As we've tried to say, it was
by the sacrifice himself. That's what the text says. By
the sacrifice of himself. Christ was once offered to bear
the sins of many, and to him that looked for him shall he
appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Verse 26,
our text was, But now, once in the end of the world, hath he
appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. He died the death which God had
stipulated should stand as an equivalent for the sufferings
of all the guilty ones for whom he stood. In other words, he
just simply, plainly, in plain everyday English that people
in Great Falls, Montana can understand, is that Jesus Christ went to
hell for us. That's what it means. That's
what it means. Brothers, sisters, substitution is the very pith
and marrow of the revelation of God. Don't you forget it.
that Christ in our place, oh, that just wakes me up often. Wakes me up. Christ treated like
I ought to be treated, that I might be treated like He ought to be
treated. And that's what this is all about. You say, well,
preacher, you mean tell me this don't cost me anything? You believe
this, my friend, and you can rejoice all the way back home
and back in again. You can rejoice! No! This is not going to cost you
anything. The Lord Jesus paid the utmost
farthing. He paid the debt. He stood in
the place of the sinner and was made a bloody sacrifice for sin. Sin was not put away by the offering
of his works, nor by the incense of his prayers, nor by the oblation
of his tears, nor even by the presentation of his pains and
his groans before God, but by the sacrifice of himself. The laying down of his life is
what did it, brethren. John Gill said it this way. He
said, the Lord Jesus Christ gave up for you his human body, his
soul, and his spirit, and all that constituted himself was
given up freely to the death that the punishment due to our
sin might be borne to the full. Well, bless the Lord. That's good. My soul, the poet
said, can on this doctrine live. And on this doctrine, die ye
can. Sprinkle now, the song says,
with blood the throne, why beneath thy burdens groan? On my pierced
body laid, justice owns the ransom paid. Bow the knee and kiss the
sun, come and welcome, sinner, come. True belief and true repentance,
every grace that brings us nigh, without money, come to Jesus
Christ and by. He hath appeared to put away
sin finally, totally, eternally. He said in the end of the world
it means in the last days He appeared. That was two thousand
years ago. But He's appeared to put away sin and He did it
eternally. Blessed Savior at Thy feet, here
to receive a cure or die, but grace forbids that painful fear.
Almighty grace which triumphs here. There's a triumph here,
beloved. Sin is put away. Lastly, and
we'll close here, the only test as to whether Christ put your
sins away is this. You listen carefully. Are you
done with trying to put your own sin away? Are you done with
it? You say, well, you know, preacher,
I just kind of think I've got to keep my hand on this thing. I just can't give all this up.
It's just too much Jesus in this, preacher. My friend, let me tell
you something. Let me tell you something. Take
your hands off of it. Just take your hands off of it.
You want some peace? You want some rest? You want
the joy bells to ring in your soul? Take your hands off of
it. Stop trying to put away your
own sin. You say, I've been working on
it a long time, preacher, and I think I've made some progress.
Take your hands off of it. Take your hands off of it. That's
the advice that I would give you this morning. Are you done
trying to put away your own sin? You can't put it away. I've told
you, you can't put it away. Only the God-man. Are you willing
that He... I'm giving you a test. Are you
done putting it away yourself? Are you willing that He should
have the whole, the soul, and entire glory of putting it away? Now you say, Preacher, I think
you've come awful close to making a fool out of yourself. Getting
up there, ranting and raving like this, talking about sin
being divorced from you, talking about sin being put away, that
you're never going to face it anymore, and that it's all done,
and you're just being treated by God like you never committed
a sin, and you can just walk right into the presence of God
and all that. Preacher, you're just ranting and raving! Oh,
my friend, listen. The whole glory, there's not
a man or woman boy or girl in this building that has been listening
to what I said that does not understand clearly that the whole
and the sole glory of what we've been talking about, we're giving
it to the God-man. We're giving it to Christ. We're
giving it entirely to Him. No glory. We're not glorying
in ourselves. Oh no. Man might glory in many
things, but it all be vain and vanity. but we're giving Him
the sole glory for it all. The glory belongs to none other
than the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who put it away. He was the
one who sacrificed Himself. Well, and the third thing is,
can you now trust Him with your whole heart to put your sin away? Can you trust Him? Well, I tell
you, take your hands off of it and trust Him. Now let me make
this statement to you. There never was a man, a woman,
a boy or girl yet who gave up confidence in everything but
Christ and did rely wholly in Christ, but who had in that fact
an assurance that Jesus loved them and gave himself for them.
Now you understand here that no man, no woman, boy or girl
can give up and have confidence in Christ. Give up confidence
in everything else but Christ except the Lord has done a work
in their hearts. The Lord has had to teach them.
The Lord has had to bring them to this way. Bring them to this
truth. Bring them to this light. And
if you can come to that place, you give up confidence and everything
else but Christ. And you love Him. You rely wholly
on Him. You have that assurance that
Jesus loved you. And He gave Himself for you.
Oh, how sweet the view the flowing of our Savior's precious blood,
with divine assurance, knowing that He made our peace with God.
Sin is gone, gone forever. So believer, if you're not timid,
and if you're not still living in unbelief, then rejoice. Rejoice therein. Rejoice that Jesus Christ has
put away sin. I know that salvation is of the
Lord. I know it's His work. from the beginning to the end.
But what he does to save a sinner, he strips him and brings him
to this place where he has no confidence but Christ. His view
is narrow. It's Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And he focuses on him and trusts
in him. May the Lord bring you to that
place. Jesus said, they shall be all taught of God. Everyone
that hath heard and learned of the Father comes to me. comes
to me and the many for whom he laid down his life they're going
to come they're going to be drawn to him and they will come to
him you say in my heart I'd like to come preacher come on to the
Lord Jesus Christ come to him if you can come to him then my
friend you can have confidence that he died for you laid down
his life for you if you can come truly come in your heart father
we pray that thou would own this message and that thou would use
it. And our Father, I pray that anyone here who's never had the
peace and the satisfaction and the joy of knowing that their
sin has been put away from them, that they'll never rest a day
or a night until they simply and solely rely on Christ only,
Christ alone, for their salvation. A great work in the hearts of
these people, we pray for Jesus' sake, In His name, amen.