Oh, I love that song. Would you turn to Hebrews chapter
nine? Hebrews chapter nine. I'd like to begin reading in
verse 24 and read down to the end of the chapter. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself now, to appear in the presence
of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place
every year with the blood of others. For then must he have
often 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 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, you
will notice in the reading of that passage of Scripture three
appearances of the Lord Jesus Christ. One in the past, one
in the present, and one in the future. In verse 24, we read of a present
appearance. For Christ has not entered into
the holy places made with hands, which are figures of the true,
but into heaven itself now, right now, while I'm speaking, now
to appear in the presence of God for us. And then we read
of a past appearance in the latter part of verse 26, now once in
the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. That's a past appearance. And
then we read of a future appearance in 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. Three appearances of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, what do these appearances
mean to me? And maybe a better way to say
that is, what do these three appearances mean to a sinner? I speak as a sinful man, one
who commits sin, one who commits sins. What do these three appearances
mean to me in light of that? Now, these appearances give this
sinner speaking to you some hope. Now, I'd like to consider them
in the order that the writer to the Hebrews mentions them.
Look in verse 24, for Christ is not entered into the holy
place made with hands, which are the figures of the true.
They're not the true, they're simply figures, but into heaven
itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. Now, consider this word now. There is an appearance that is
in the present. It is now. It's always in the
now. It's always been in the now. Before time was, it is. When time shall be no more, it
is. And God's people have always
been represented by this present tense appearance. While when
I was chosen, I was chosen in the Lamb's lamb from the foundation
of the world. And my standing is always going
to be in the Lord Jesus Christ in this appearance, this present
appearance where it says He appears now, right now for us, for me. For us, for every believer, I
love thinking of it that way. I mean, you can't separate one
believer and other believers. We're one body. One body, one
family. But I also like thinking of me.
To think that He mentions my name before the Father. That He represents me before
the Father. Now, who is the us? It says,
he is not entered into the holy places made with heavens, which
are figures of the true, but into heaven himself now to appear
in the presence of God for us. Who is the us that he represents? Well, this is every believer. This is God's elect. He does
not intercede for all men. He said in John 17, nine, I pray
not for the world, but for them, which you've given me. As a matter
of fact, he intercedes, and that word intercedes means please
for or please against. He intercedes against some men. He prays for some men, and he
prays against other men. Let me show you that in Scripture.
Turn to Psalm 69. Well, I want the Lord to be praying for me,
don't you? I don't want him to be praying against me, because
if he's praying against me, I've got no hope. I must have this
one praying for me. Psalm 69. Verse 21. They gave me also gall for my
meat and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Now this
is talking about the cross. Obviously he's talking about
when they gave him vinegar vinegar to drink and answer to the. What
happened on the cross? Now this is the same one speaking
as he speaks from the cross. He says, let their table become
a snare before them, and that which should have been for their
welfare, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened that
they see not, and make their loins continually to shake. Pour
out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take
hold of them. Let their habitation be desolate,
and let none dwell in their tents, for they persecute him whom thou
hast smitten." These are the words of the Lord Jesus directly,
aren't they? They persecute him whom thou hast smitten, and they
talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded. Add iniquity
unto their iniquity, and let them not come into thy righteousness.
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be
written with the righteous. Now he is interceding against
these people and these are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, why bring that up? The main purpose is this. If
he prays for you, you're saved. Everybody he prays for is saved. If he prays against you, you
deserve that. You ought to be in hell. If he
prays against somebody, Oh, not the judge of the earth. You're
right. But if he prays for you, you must be saved. Now, what's he doing as he appears
in heaven for us? Those who believe God's elect,
he's making intercession. Hebrews 7.25 says, Wherefore,
he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God
by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Romans 8.32-34 Since he that spared not his
own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not
with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. If
God justifieth me, I'm justifieth. Who is he that can condemn? It's
Christ that died. Yea, rather, that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession. for us, making petition for us. Now, there is no condemnation
to those for whom he makes intercession, for those he pleads for, for
those he represents. And it's a present, a present
intercession. When Christ said, Peter, I prayed
for you, he says the same thing of every believer. He says, Todd,
I prayed for you. Isn't it wonderful to think of
the Lord mentioning your name before the Father? You know,
when the High Priest went into the Holy of Holies, he had a
breastplate with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
He represented a specific people. And oh, to think of the Lord
praying for me, representing me. Now, turn with me to 1 John,
chapter 2. You know, when I was looking
at this passage of Scripture, I thought I need to make sure
this is really saying what it's saying. Because if it is, it's
great. This is glorious. If it's really
saying what it's... Is it? Well, let's look at this
passage of Scripture together. Verse 1. My little children,
these things write I unto you that you sin not. Now, that's God's will for me
and you. To not sin. to not sin. It is never the will of God for
me or you to commit sin. His will for us is to be obedient. It's to be just like Christ. There's never an excuse for sin. And you and I are to make it
our goal, our objective, our purpose right now from henceforth
to never sin again. Wouldn't that be wonderful to
never sin again? to be without sin. And John says, here's why
I'm writing to you. I'm writing these things to you
for this purpose, that you sin not. Now, write her down. That's God's purpose for you.
Sin is never okay. Oh, sin is an infinite evil.
And he writes to us that we might not sin. Now, let's go on reading.
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin
not, and if any man sin." See that word, if? That same word
is translated in verse 2 of 1 John chapter 3, when? It could just as easily be said,
when? Not if, when you do. when you do. When you sin, it
says we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the
righteous. There is never an excuse for
sin, guilty as charged, but when you do sin, we have an advocate
with the Father. Now notice what it doesn't say.
It doesn't say we will have an advocate if we repent. It doesn't say we will have an
advocate if we're sorry. It doesn't say we will have an
advocate if we do something to bring ourselves back into a favorable
position. Doesn't say anything like that.
It says when you sin, we have. Not we will have. Not we will
have if. To every believer, we have an
advocate with the Father. Now, we have this advocate before
the sin, we have this advocate with the Father during the sin,
and we have this advocate with the Father after the sin. We
always have this advocate with the father. There's nothing we
need to do to get him to be our advocate. He already is our advocate. And notice what it says. It says,
if any man sin, we have an advocate, not with our judge. But with
our father. Now, to those for whom he is
nothing but a judge, they have no advocates. But every believer
has an advocate with their father. Now, what is an advocate? One
who gives aid. One who pleads another's cause. An intercessor. And we don't
read of anything we do after the sin to restore us or to bring
us into a favorable relationship with the Father. Nothing to do. Nothing to make amends. We have
this advocate. with the Father, and our Advocate
is Jesus Christ the Righteous. I love that name of His. Jesus
Christ the Righteous. Oh, He's altogether righteous. His name is Jesus. You know what
that name means? Oh, what a precious name. Precious
is the name of Jesus. Oh, it's so precious because
it means Savior. That's why I call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. We just heard
that song of the sins that oppress us. And my sins oppress me. Oh, they oppress me. Oh, I...
He's going to save me from my sins. He has saved me from my
sins. We have an Advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ, the Anointed One. Anointed by the Father for
this very thing, to be an Advocate. Anointed to be a Savior. Jesus
Christ, the Righteous. You see, He's no crooked lawyer.
He's altogether righteous, and this advocate, this lawyer, this
intercessor with the Father, he's never lost a case. Not only
has he never lost a case, he's incapable of losing one. Now,
how would you like to have someone like that representing you before
the Father? And think of his relationship
with the Father. He's the Father's son. He's the
Son of God. This advocate we have is the
Son of God. And he doesn't need loopholes
or leniency for his clients. He doesn't need to find different
ways in order to get them out of trouble and stall and try
to go this direction, that direction. No, not at all. He doesn't need
leniency or loopholes to get his clients off. And here's what
he does with his clients, and this is so glorious. Every believer
is his client. He's the advocate. He's the lawyer
with the Father. And he makes all of his clients plead guilty. That's not what human lawyers
do. They say, not guilty. Even when you've done it, not
guilty. Try to get out of it. Not guilty. He makes every single
one of his clients plead guilty. Guilty. Guilty. And yet the judge pronounces
them to be justified. Not guilty without Now, that
is some kind of lawyer. Now, to have him appearing now
in the presence of God for us, all is well, isn't it? Do you love his appearing? His
appearing now in the presence of God as your representative. Now, how can he do that? How
can he make me plead guilty? And yet I'm declared by the great
judge, the Lord God of glory to be not guilty. How can he
do that? He does. How? Well, this is seen
in his second. Appearing. Look in verses 25
and 26 of our text in Hebrews chapter 9. 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. But now, once in the end of the
world, hath he appeared. This is talking about his appearing
in his incarnation in the cross. Now, once in the end of the world,
you know, ever, ever, ever since the Lord was born, it's been
the end times. We're in the end times right now. Maybe right
at the end of the end times, I hope so. But we've been in
the end days, the last days, ever since the appearing of our
Lord Jesus. But now once in the end of the
world, hath he appeared to what? To put away sin. To put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself. Now, he didn't have to do this
often like the high priest of old. They had to do it every
year because their sacrifices never put away sin. Sin was always
still there. But he has put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. And I love this description in
verse 48. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of what? Many. Many. You know, It seems
like the number of God's elect at any time on the earth is always
represented as a remnant, doesn't it? A small number. I mean, look
at Noah's days. There were eight people. But
when it's all said and done, it's a many. The Lord died for
a whole lot of people. Scripture says in heaven there's
going to be 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands singing
this great song. He appeared to put away the sins,
to take away the sins of many. Not everybody, but many. And
what did he do by this one sacrifice? He put away sin. The sins that I've committed
even this day. He put them away. They're gone. The sins that I will commit tomorrow. He put away. That word put away is translated
in Hebrew 718, dis-annulled. Dis-annulled. He thwarted their
efficacy. He completely annihilated them. He made them not to be. Now, in order to be convicted
of a crime, you have to have something to be convicted of. And in the Lord Jesus Christ,
every believer has nothing to be convicted of. I am justified. You ever get tired of hearing
that? You know, I really don't. I am justified. I am perfectly
righteous before God. I have no sin because He put
it away. My advocate does not plead for
a guilty person. My advocate pleads for one who
is not guilty, because my sin was put away." Look in 1 John
3. Verse 4. transgresseth also the law, for
sin is the transgression of the law. Any lack of perfect conformity
to the Ten Commandments is sin. You want to know what sin is? Any lack of perfect conformity
to the Ten Commandments is sin. Sin is the transgression of the
law. Verse 5, And you know that he
was manifested to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. Turn to 2 Timothy, chapter 1. Here we have this word appearing
again. Verse 9, Who hath saved us, and
called us with an holy not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began, but now is made manifest by the appearing
of our Savior, Jesus Christ. And here's what he did in his
appearing. He abolished death because he took away the reason
for death. When he removed the sin, he removed the reason for
death. The reason I'm never going to
be condemned for my sins because I don't have any. He took it
away. He had abolished death and he had brought life and immortality
to life through the gospel. Now, the sin that I hate. Has
been put away. Now, do you remember that story
about David? David committed adultery and premeditated
murder. And those are biggies. I mean,
any way you look at it, I mean, one sin is not worse than another.
Maybe not, but those are still biggies. He committed premeditated
murder and he committed adultery. And you remember when God sent
the prophet to him, Nathan. And he told him that story about
that little old man who had a little lamb that he loved so dearly. And he treated it as if it were
his child. It was his child. And there was
a rich man who had all kinds of lambs and all kind of money
and had everything that you could want. And a visitor came to him
and he said, well, I don't want to use any of my lambs. So he
said, go get our neighbor's lamb and kill it. and dress it and
give it to our visitor. And so he sent his servants off
and they took that man's lamb that he loved so dearly and brought
it and killed it and he fed his guests. David heard this and
David said, get him and kill him. And as the Lord liveth,
that man is not going to live. He was mad. And Nathan looked
at him and said, thou art the man. Thou art the man. And David's conscience smote
him and he said, I've sinned. And Nathan, the first thing he
said is, the Lord hath put away thy sin. He appeared to put away sin. by the sacrifice of himself and
all those sins that oppress me. He put them away. They are not. They're nothing. They're gone. He put them away. All my sins were put away before
I even committed them. I love that. Let's read about this third appearance.
Look in verse 27 of our text in Hebrews chapter 9. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, here is an appointment you and
I must keep. We're going to die. Maybe soon,
maybe 20 years from now. I don't know. But we're going
to die. It's appointed that the man wants
to die. But after this, the judgment. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall
he appear the second time. without sin unto salvation. Now, here is the future appearing
of the Lord Jesus Christ, one that has not taken place yet,
but most certainly will. And what an appearing that will
be. You know, when he comes back, the scripture says he's going
to come back as a thief in the night. Anytime somebody predicts
when he'll come back, write it down. It won't be then. Nobody
will know when he comes back, but he's coming back at God's
appointed time. And when he does come back, everybody's going
to know who he is. He's going to come back like
lightning in the midnight sky. And everybody is going to know
who he is when he comes with power and much glory. And it says he shall appear without
sin. Now, remember, he carried that
sin in his own body on the tree. That's why he died. He, you know,
thinking about Jesus Christ died just blows my mind. I don't understand
how the God name could die, but he did. He died. He carried my
sin into that tomb and it's gone. And when he appears the second
time, he'll appear the second time without seeing my sin was
put away. And therefore, I can look at
his appearing or I can look for his appearing without fear. You know, people use the second
coming of Christ to try to motivate people and scare them. You know,
you wouldn't want to be doing that if Christ came back, or you wouldn't
want to be guilty of it. When He comes back for His people,
He comes back without sin. Look in 1 John chapter 3 once
again. Verse 1, Behold, what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called
the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us
not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. Just as Christ is the Son of
God, we're in Him. We're sons of God. We have royalty
going through our blood, going through our veins. True sons
of God. Join heirs with the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now are we the sons of God. Next time you're looking for
significance, here it is. I'm a son of God. Next time you're
looking for self-worth, well, you don't have any worth in yourself,
but here's your worth in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm a son
of God. Next time you're thinking, oh,
my life is so mundane. No, it's not. You're a son of
God. It's all sacred. Beloved, now are we sons of God. And it does not yet appear what
we shall be. I can relate. John, speaking
under the inspiration of God, the Holy Spirit, says when we're
like Christ, we have no idea what that means. It doesn't appear. Can you even imagine being without
sin? Can you imagine being without
a sinful thought, without a sinful motive, without whatever it is
that passes through our minds? John, even writing under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says it does not yet appear what
we shall be. We don't understand it. But we know this. When he shall appear,
We shall be like Him. God's purpose and predestination
realized. We shall be like Him. Perfectly conformed to His image,
for we shall see Him as He is. Look in 1 John 2.28, And now,
little children, Abide in him, that when he shall
appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him
at his coming. If I'm in him, I have confidence.
I have nothing to be ashamed of at his coming, when he appears.
Let me show you another scripture. It's on Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3, verse 1. If you then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God, and I can, I'm not adding anything to the scripture,
but remember what he's doing there, making intercession for
you, for me, representing me. He says in verse 2, set your
heps on things above. Not on things on the earth, for
you are dead. All the stuff that's been going
on in our society, the economic collapse, all the horrible things
that take place. Go into a graveyard and ask a
dead man what he thinks about it. He's utterly unconcerned. He's
not even aware of it. You are dead. And your life is
hid with Christ. In God. Well, that's a great
place to be. Hid with Christ in God. When
Christ. Notice that who is is in italics,
he could read when Christ, our life shall appear. Now, here's my life before God. Whatever Christ did in His life,
that's my life. That's my righteousness before
God. When Christ, our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear
with Him. Now, you know, when Christ comes
back, I don't, this is hard to, you just believe it, you don't
much understand it. I'll be right here. When Christ comes back,
I'm going to see Him coming. I'm going to be right here, but
it's equally true that when He shall appear, you know who else
is going to appear? Every single one of His people, because we're
all united to Him and in Him. And when He comes back, we appear
with Him. That's why Paul called this the
glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. And who does He appear for? Who
does He appear for? In our text, it says He shall
appear To them that look for him. Hebrews 9, 28. Here's who
he appears for. To them that look for him. To
them that look for him. Shall he appear without sin unto
salvation? Now, that word look there is
not talking about so much somebody looking for his second return,
although that's certainly included in it. But it's talking about
those who eagerly expect. Him who had confidently await
Him. We wait for His appearing. Now,
turn back to that first scripture I read in 2 Timothy, chapter
4. And to them who eagerly await
His appearing. Look in 2 Timothy, chapter 4,
verse 6. Paul says, For I am now ready
to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I love the way he calls his death
a departure. I mean, like a ship going off to sea. My departure. Oh, what a blessed time that
will be. My departure. I'm ready to be
offered the time of my departure is at hand. I fought a good fight. Now. I said this a couple of
weeks ago when commenting on this passage of scripture, remember
this. If Jesus Christ fought a good fight, I did too. I don't
look over my life and say, well, I fought a good fight. No, I
feel many failures and weakness, and I don't feel, well, I've
done well. I'm ready to go. Good to go. No, I'm not saying
that. But if Jesus Christ fought a good fight, I did too. Remember, His life
is my life. And Paul can say it. I'll tell
you what, I want to be able to say this at the end. I fought
a good fight. I finished my course. I've kept
the faith. By God's grace, I've been faithful,
I've finished the course he gave me to run, and I've kept the
faith. Verse 8, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness. Now, this crown of righteousness
is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. This isn't some kind
of special crown that only Paul is going to get. Have you all
ever come across those five different crowns? You know, the soul winner's
crown, the crown of righteousness, crown of... all these different
kind of crowns. I guess they think people will be in heaven.
You know, some have one crown, some have five. I don't know
how they balance them up on there. You know, but they walk around
with all these crowns on their heads. That's foolishness. That's foolishness. It's evil. This crown of righteousness
is the right... the only righteousness there
is, the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Now, this crown of righteousness,
look what it says in verse eight. Henceforth, there is laid up
for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge. Shall give me at that day. And not to me only, but unto
all them also that love his appearing. Now, would that be you? Do you love His appearing? Do
you love His appearing as your intercessor, standing before
God for you? He stands there and you're accepted. It's not like He's pleading,
oh, let Him get by this time. I know He did again. No, that's
not His intercession. He stands before the Father and
I'm righteous before God in Him. That's His intercession. Do you
love His appearing right now in the presence of God for you?
Do you love, secondly, His first appearing when He was made flesh
and the angels sang in His birth, on earth, peace, goodwill toward
men? I love the way the angels tried
to describe Him at His first... The angels couldn't come up with
a word. They said that holy thing which
is in you shall be called the Son of the Highest. Do you love
His life on earth when He kept God's law perfectly? He honored God in everything
He said, everything He thought, everything He did. the law, and
oh, His appearing and His death. This is why He came, to die,
to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Do you love His appearing?
Do you love His future appearing? Do you love the thought of Him
coming? And you have nothing to fear. And you will see Him
as He is. Not as He was, but as He is. I don't even know what to say
about that. Who can describe Him? But you'll
see Him as He is in all His resplendent glory. Do you love His appearing? When
every eye is going to see Him? When unbelievers are going to
be made to see that He is who He said He is. Do you love His
appearing? Now, to everybody that loves
His appearing, there's laid up for them a crown of righteousness. I do love. I do love His appearing. Henceforth, there's laid up for
me a crown of righteousness. Let's pray.