I've entitled the message for
tonight, The Three Appearings of Christ. Now, the first is stated in verse
26, when it says, now once in the
end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. Now that is a past appearance. And then in verse 24, this is
so thrilling if the Lord gives us the grace to enter into it.
For Christ has 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. The Lord is right now, as I speak,
appearing in the presence of God as the great high priest
and intercessor of every one of his people right now. And
the third appearance will be in the future. We read in the
last part of verse 28, and unto them that look for him. shall
he appear the second time. This is speaking of his second
advent without sin, without sin unto salvation. Now let's look at verse 16. Let
me go through this passage before we consider these three appearances. For where a Testament is, and
he's speaking of a will, the last will and Testament, where
a Testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of
the testator. Now, if I have a will with regard
to my stuff, who gets it? It won't be in effect until I
die. As long as I'm alive, everything's going to Aubrey.
Well, Lynn first, if I die first. But if Lynn and I die, everything
goes to Aubrey. But if I'm still alive, she can't
come up and say, give me my inheritance. It's not hers until death. That's
the way a will and a Testament works. Verse 17, for a Testament
is a force after men are dead. Otherwise it's of no strength
at all while the testator liveth. Now, if the Lord Jesus Christ
does not die, mean you get nothing. Is that clear enough? Everything
we have spiritually is because of his death. And if he doesn't
die, we get nothing. If Christ came here and lived
a perfect life and then went back to heaven without having
ever died, what good would that do me and you? We can see what
a life ought to be, but it won't do us any good. Now he speaks
of something that took place in Exodus chapter 24, verse 18, I'm sorry. Whereupon
neither the first Testament was dedicated without blood, talking
about when the law was given, Moses took blood and sprinkled
it on everybody. For when Moses had spoken every
precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood
of calves and of goats with water and scarlet and wool and hyssop
and sprinkled both the book And all the people saying, this is
the blood of the Testament, which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover,
he sprinkled with blood, both the tabernacle and all the vessels
of the ministry. And almost all things are by
the law purged with blood. Now turn with me to Exodus 24
for a moment. This is what the writer to the
Hebrews is referring to. This is after the giving of the
law, Exodus chapter 24. They've received the Ten Commandments.
They've received the civil law. Verse 3 of Exodus chapter 24. And Moses came and told the people
all the words of the Lord. He gave the Ten Commandments.
He gave all the civil laws. He came and told the people all
the words of the Lord and all the judgments. And all the people
answered with one voice and said all the words. which the Lord
has said, will we do? Has there ever been a bigger
lie ever told? And Moses wrote all the words
of the Lord and rose up early in the morning and built an altar
under the hill. and 12 pillars, according to
the 12 tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the
children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings and sacrificed
peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord." Now, why did he do
that? Because he knew they wouldn't
do that. He knew they were lying. Now, did they think they were
gonna do it? Maybe they did, I don't know, but he knew they
wouldn't. What's the reason for these burnt
offerings? It's a sin offering. It's a sacrifice,
a peace offering for God to make peace with himself through the
sacrifice. He knew these people would not do what they said they
were going to do. And Moses, verse six, took half
of the blood and put it in basins and half of the blood he sprinkled
on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant, the law
that he brought down and read in the audience of the people.
And they said, again, All that the Lord hath said will we do
and be obedient. And Moses took the blood and
sprinkled it on the people. You know why? He knew they wouldn't.
That's exactly why. I remember hearing a preacher
saying this was their pact of obedience. It was like two boys
pricking their thumbs, letting blood come out and rubbing it
together. This is their pact of obedience.
No, it wasn't. Moses knew exactly what they
were gonna do. And he sprinkled blood on them,
speaking of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Moses took the blood and
sprinkled it on the people and said, behold, the blood of the
covenant, which the Lord hath made with you, concerning all
these words, these words that you said, here's blood. And back
to our text in Hebrews chapter nine. Verse 22, and almost all things are by
the law purged with blood. You know, when we think of the
tabernacle and the furniture that was in the tabernacle and
all the different paraphernalia that was in the tabernacle, when
we think of the Ark of the Covenant, when we think of the candlesticks,
when we think of the altar of incense, the altar, it was bloody. And we don't ever read where
the blood was washed off. I don't know that if you could
have even seen the gold and the paraphernalia of the temple in
any other way but that of blood. If you looked at the priest coming
out, he didn't come out with a sparkling clean white garment,
he was covered with blood. And the Lord meant for that to
be in the sight of the people all the time. And without shedding of blood, the Lord Jesus Christ's blood,
there is no remission. The only way my sin can be remitted,
the only way I can be a partaker of the will and get that which
he's willed to me is if he shed his blood. Aren't you thankful
for the death of Christ? I mean, when I think of what
he went through, it's painful to think of him bearing my sins
and being forsaken of God and being cut off to where he had
no light. He had no word from God. He was
all alone on the cross, forsaken by God. That's painful to think
of, but I sure am thankful he did it because I would be forsaken
if he wasn't. Verse 23, it was therefore necessary
that the patterns of things in the heavens, and that's what
the tabernacle was. That's what the temple was. It
was a pattern of the things in the heavens. It was a picture. It was therefore necessary that
the pattern of things in the heavens should be purified with
these, but the heavenly things themselves would better sacrifice
than these. Now, the blood of an animal is
not brought into heaven. Now, a pattern, a picture. The most expensive piece of art
ever sold was Leonardo da Vinci's, no, the Salvatore Mundi. I think I'm pronouncing that
right. The Salvatore Munti. In 2017, it was sold for $450
million. And it's supposed to be, the
Salvatore Munti means the savior of the world. It was a painting
of Christ. And worth $450 million for that one painting. How much is a picture of it worth?
Nothing. Nothing. You know, I looked at
a picture of it. I got to look at it for free.
It was impressive painting, I suppose, but the pictures worth nothing,
but the piece of art itself, these pictures, the tabernacle
there, there are outlines there. They let us know something about
the heavenly realities, but what are they worth in and of themselves?
They are worth nothing. And that's what Paul is saying.
See, the heavenly things are gonna have to be purified with
better sacrifices than these. Look in verse 12 of this same
chapter. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his
own blood. He entered in once into the holy
place, heaven itself, having obtained eternal redemption for
us. He comes into heaven itself with
His own blood and He's not bringing the blood of an animal. That
wouldn't do us any good. He brings His own blood into
heaven now to appear in the presence of God for us. Verse 24, For Christ is not entered
into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures,
the outlines, the sketches of the truth, but into heaven itself,
now to appear in the presence of God for us. Let that wash over your soul,
if the Lord enables you. Right now, he's appearing in
the very presence of God for us. That great group, our Father,
who art in heaven. If God be for us, who can be
against us? This us, he now appears in the
very presence of God for them. Nor yet, verse 25, nor yet that
he should offer himself often as the high priest entered into
the holy place every year with the blood of others. Now there
were 1,400 years between the coming of Christ and when the
Lord gave Moses the law. So if there was a day of atonement
observed, I don't know if there was, but I doubt it, but there
were a lot of days of atonement. But if they did it every year,
1,400 times. The high priest went into the
Holy of Holies with the blood of others, the blood of animals. And they kept going in, why? Because it didn't take away sin. Look in chapter 10, verse one.
For the law, having a shadow, there's that word again, a figure,
an outline. For the law, having a shadow of good things to come.
And not the very image of the things, can never, with those
sacrifices which they offered year by year, continually, make
the comers therein too perfect. For then would they have not
ceased to be offered. Now, if you ever made perfect,
another offering is not needed. For then would they not cease
to be offered, because if the worshipers once purged, should
have no more conscience of sins. But in these sacrifices, there's
a remembrance again made of sins every year, for it's not possible
that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. He offered himself once. Now
let's look at verse 25 again. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest enters into the holy place every
year with the blood of others. For then must he have often suffered
since the foundation of the world. He should have had to suffer
every day from the very beginning of the world. If he has to go
more than once, you see, he once offered himself once, not many
times, but once, but now once. in the end of the world. Now, why does he say that this
was done at the end of the world? Well, look in Hebrews 1. God, who at sundry times and
divers manners spake in times past in the fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken to us by a son. Now we've been living in the
last days ever since Christ ascended back into glory. And people are
always making predictions as well. I think Christ is coming
back. I hope he does. I hope he comes back today. Wouldn't
it be glorious if he comes back tonight? And we're ushered into
his presence and no longer sinners, perfect in his sight. Oh, even
so come Lord Jesus, don't you look forward to his return. But he only came once and that
is to let us know that what he did was completed. As a matter
of fact, when it says that he hath appeared to put away sin
by the sacrifice of himself, that appearance is not the regular
past tense. That's in the perfect tense,
meaning it's perfectly completed and it doesn't have to be repeated.
It doesn't have to be done again. When he appeared That one time,
as the great sin bearer, he did what the Father sent him to do. He put away sin. If he died for me, my sins put
away. It's gone. It's not just as if
I never sinned in Christ. I never sinned. I stand before
God without guilt because of the putting away of sin. Now, Let me ask you a question. It says he appeared to put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself. Here's my question. Did he do
what he came to do? Did he accomplish what he came
to do? Well, what tells us, or what
gives us the answer to that? I can tell you what gives us
the answer. The resurrection. The resurrection tells us that
He did precisely what He came to do. When He was raised from
the dead, sin was put away. Now, this was the first time
He came. He put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself, verse 27. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment, Here are two appointments
we must keep. Death. You know, if you went
to the doctor today and he said, you're dying, you'd be overwhelmed. I'm dying. Well, the Bible tells us that,
doesn't it? You're dying. You're dying. And you and I can't
avoid that. It's appointed unto men once
to die and after that the judgment. And every man, every woman, every
boy, every girl is going to stand before God in judgment. God is
going to judge with the strictest absolute justice. No respect
for persons. And there's no loopholes. There's
no, he treats everybody the same in judgment. I mean, it's the
only absolutely just judgment there is. Now here's an appointment,
me and you are gonna have to keep. Death, and after that,
the judgment. Verse 28, so Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many, not everybody, but many, and
unto them that look for him. shall he appear." Now this is
in the future, this is his future appearing. And to them that look
for him, shall he appear the second time, his second advent. Oh when he shall come with trumpet
sound, oh may I then in him be found, dressed in his righteousness
alone, faultless to stand before the throne. His second appearing,
and who is going to rejoice in His second appearing? There's
some that are going to cry for the rocks and mountains to fall
on them, to hide them from the face of Him that sits on the
throne and the wrath of the Lamb. They're not gonna be happy. They're
gonna know who He is. They'll know exactly who He is,
and they're not gonna be happy at His appearing. Who will be
rejoicing in His appearing? Them that look for Him. to those
people, he shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Now, here we have the three appearings
of Christ. Let's consider these very briefly. The first appearing, verse 26. But now, once, this is in the
past. But now once in the end of the
world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself." Now, before this appearing, Christ didn't have
a physical body. He, like the Father is Spirit. The Holy Spirit is Spirit, not
confined to a physical body, not confined to space or time. He didn't have a physical body. Now, He made some kind of appearance,
some kind of spiritual appearance when He stood as our surety and
as our representative and as taking full responsibility for
our salvation, but He wasn't flesh yet. Throughout the 4,000
years or however long it was that before he was actually made
flesh, he made many what are called pre-incarnate appearances.
I have no doubt that it was he who Adam heard walking. the voice of God walking in the
cool of the evening. You know that was Jesus Christ.
It was Jesus Christ who preached the first message to Adam. And I have no doubt that he made
many appearances to Abraham. Remember Melchizedek? And you
remember the angel of the Lord coming to him? And him praying,
if there's 50, 40, 30, talking about Sodom, that was an appearing
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He made many appearings. He appeared
to him in Genesis 22. He spoke to him from heaven.
And then I think of Jacob. The Lord Jesus wrestled with
Jacob. Oh, what an appearance that was. And what about his
appearance to Moses when he made himself known in the burning
of the bush and said, I am that I am. He appeared to Moses, didn't
he? I think of the way he appeared to Joshua. Joshua sees the man
with the drawn sword and he, he's scared of him. He says,
are you for us or are you for our adversaries? Whose side are
you on? I love the way the Lord said, neither. I don't take sides. I'm the captain of the Lord of
hosts. I don't take somebody's side. You better hope you're
on my side, but I don't take sides. Oh, the appearance of
the Lord Jesus Christ. But finally, one day, at a specific
time, he was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the Virgin's womb
and became flesh. There's his first appearing.
You know, this is so amazing. He'll always be flesh throughout
eternity. There's a man in glory right
now appearing in the presence of God for us with real flesh
and real blood. A man, the man, Christ Jesus. 30 years he walked upon this earth
working out a perfect righteousness. And you can't help but think
of what those first 30 years were in his life. I mean, how
I know he pleased his father, but Rich and I were talking about
this before the service. He said, you reckon when he was
a little boy, he had to get away from the kids who hated him because
they beat him to death or something? Not that they could, but he,
you know, He was always throughout his life, the scripture says,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Now, it wasn't because
he was sorrowful because of the way people mistreated him, although
I'm sure that he did not enjoy that, but every moment of his
life, he knew he was going to be made sin. He knew he was going
to bear the full equivalent of eternal hell. He knew he was
going to be forsaken by God, be cut off. He would have no
communion with his father at all, totally cut off. And because
of that, he was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. As a matter
of fact, Psalm 88 says, I've been afflicted every day since
my youth. Now it's also true He's the one
who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising
the shame. Even though He's the man of sorrows,
He's the man who had the joy of perfectly pleasing His Father,
perfectly glorifying His Father, perfectly saving His people from
their sins. Notice it says, In verse 26,
now, once in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself. Now, I love the way that the
scripture points out this in the perfect tense. You know what
that means? That work is over. That work
is finished. He'll never be the man of sorrows
again. He's the mighty King of Kings,
Lord of Lords, in the very presence of the Father, robed in light,
the Son of God. That work is over. He appeared
to put away sins, and he put away sins. They're gone. They are no more. He did what
he came to do. He came to put away sins. And
what that means is he came, bore my sin in his own body on the
tree. This is true of every one of
his people. My personal sins, the sins that I've committed,
he bore. in his own body on the tree. And he put them away. They're gone. They're not. His work in putting away sins
by the sacrifice of himself is completed. He's not what he was. That is over. That's his first
appearance. He came to put away sin by the
sacrifice of Himself, and that's what He did. Now look in verse
24, here's His second appearing, and this is in the present. For Christ has not entered into
the holy place made with hands, which are the figures of the
true. He's not in that physical tabernacle
that the high priest went into, but He's gone into heaven itself. now to appear in the presence
of God for us." Now this is speaking of the intercession of Christ. The man who died to put away
sins now lives to make sure his will is carried out. Now how
many wills have been made and when the one who made them died
they're contested? They're contested. Somebody's
trying to say, this is not right, this is not fair. We're being
cut out, we don't agree, and they'll contest the will. You
find out a whole lot about people when a will's involved. Now,
the Lord lives to make sure His will is done. Hebrews 7.25 says,
wherefore, he is able to save them to the uttermost that come
to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for
them. Now, it says in verse 24, he's
in heaven itself to appear in the presence of God for us. Well, who is the us? Well, the
same us, as Paul spoke of in Romans 8, 31 and 32, when he
said, if God be for us, who will be against us? He that
spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him freely give us all things? That's who he's appearing
for. The same them when he said, I
pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which you have given me, for they are thine. The us of his words to John the Baptist,
thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Now these
are the same people that he prayed to his father. Father, forgive
him. Was there anybody he prayed for
that the Father didn't forgive? No. Everybody he prayed for must
be forgiven. I love that passage of scripture
in John chapter 17, verse 24. He said, Father, I will. Can
you imagine praying that yourself? Father, I will that you do it.
No. That's not the Father, if it be thy will. But he could
say to his father, Father, I will. That they whom you have given
me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. For thou lovest me from the foundation
of the world. Now, this is very important when
we think of his intercession. What is the ground of his intercession?
Does he say, oh, Father, forgive him again? I know they did it
again, but forgive him again. No. Who is he that condemneth? What comes next? It's Christ
that died. That's the ground of His intercession
all the time. Who is He that condemns? It's
Christ the died, yea rather, who's risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. Isn't it glorious to think of
His intercession? You see, if He represents you,
you know what that means? That means you're, He makes this
presentation of you to His Father, holy, unblameable, and unreprovable
in His sight. That's the intercession of Christ. But beloved, there's an appearance
that has not yet taken place. Verse 28, 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 hear this description of
the people that he's coming back for without sin. Now let's don't
miss this. He's going to appear without
sin. You know what that means? Your sin's gone. It's obliterated. It's canceled. It's no more. He bore that sin,
and He put it away, and it's gone! It's not! And He's gonna
come for you, and that sin that you have committed, it's not
there. It's gone. He's coming without
sin unto salvation. But who is He coming for? Now, like I said, there is a
demographic who when he comes again, everybody's
gonna know him. Everybody's gonna know who he
is. How is that? I don't know, but it's so. Every
eye will see him. Every tongue is gonna be made
to confess that he's Lord to the glory of God the Father.
But there will be many people when he returns, they're not
gonna be happy. They're gonna be scared to death. And they're going to be crying
out to the mountains and to the rocks, fall on us and hide us
from the face of Him that sits on the throne. And listen to
this phrase, from the wrath of the Lamb. Now, we don't think
about that too much, do we? The wrath of the Lamb. But yes,
there is the wrath of the Lamb when He appears. But there is
a group who He appears for that He's gonna appear to them without
sin. Their sin's gone. Eternal bliss will begin for
them at that time. And who is it He's going to appear
for? I love the simplicity of this
phrase. Them that look for Him. It covers everything. Them that
look for Him. Now what does it mean to look
for Him? I think that the thief on the
cross described it as clearly as can be. When he said, Lord,
remember me when you come into your kingdom. I don't want to stand on my own.
When my name is called, I'm going to look to you to answer for
me. And until then, I'm looking to you as all I have, all I want,
all I need, looking unto Jesus. The author and the finisher of
our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the
cross, despising the shame. and sat down on the right hand
of the throne of the majesty on high. And I know what he's
doing there. He's interceding for us. But
he will one day come again. The second time. And when he
comes, it will be without my sin. My sin, I'm so sick of it. I Understand what David meant when
he said, my sin is ever before me. It is. I hate it. I'm ashamed of it. I'm sick of it. One of these days, when he comes,
that sin's gonna not be because he put it away. And they're the three appearings
of Christ. One is past appearing when he
was made flesh, the present appearing as he is in the very presence of God
for us. And then that third appearing
when he shall return, let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
appearing of our Redeemer. How we thank you for his appearing
when he was made flesh and willingly became flesh for us. for the
glory of his father and the good and the perfection of his church.
How we thank you for his appearing for us right now, making our
prayers acceptable in thy sight, making our persons acceptable
in thy sight because of his great sacrifice. And Lord, how we earnestly
long for that second appearing when we'll be like him. For we will see Him as He is. Thank you for our Redeemer. In
His name we pray.