Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
9. Hebrews chapter 9. For our scripture reading, we'll
begin with verse 24. Hebrews 9, verse 24. For Christ is not entered into the
holy places made with hands, which are 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 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. Let's go to our Lord in prayer. Our God and Father in heaven,
we thank you for this day. Lord, we thank you for this,
thy word. Lord, we thank you for our Savior.
the Lord Jesus Christ, and Lord, we desire to know more of him. Bless us to know more of Christ.
Cause us to see him in all things. Cause us to rest in him in all
things. Grant it that we might look to
him. Lord, we pray for your presence
here this morning. Lord, as we've gathered here,
as you've brought us to this place, Lord, would you be pleased
to dwell among your people? Lord, take these things written
in thy word and reveal them to us. Make them plain to us. Lord, for those who are sick
and hurting and time of need, Lord, please comfort. Lord, if
it please you, comfort and strengthen and encourage and lift up and
heal. Lord, for our many young ones,
we pray that you'd hedge them about, that you'd protect them
and keep them. Lord, it's our prayer that in
time you'd be merciful to them, that you would be pleased to
save them. Now again, we thank you for your
many blessings. And Lord, above all things, we
thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's in his name
we pray and give thee thanks. Amen. Thine eyes have seen the glory
of the coming of the Lord. He is trampling out the vintage
where his grapes of wrath are stored. He'll loose the fateful
lightning of his terrible swift sword. His truth is marching
on. Glory, glory, hallelujah Glory,
glory, hallelujah Glory, glory, hallelujah His truth is marching
on I have seen him in the watch
fires of a hundred circling camps. They have builded him an altar
in the evening blues and damps. I can read his righteous sentence
by the dim and flaring lamps. His day is marching on. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. His truth is marching on. He has sounded forth the trumpet
that shall never sound retreat. He is sifting out the hearts
of men before His judgment seat. Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer
Him. Be jubilant, my feet. Our God is marching on. Glory, glory, hallelujah. glory glory hallelujah glory
glory hallelujah his truth is marching In the beauty of the lilies Christ
was born across the sea With a glory in his bosom that transfigures
you and me As he died to make men holy, let us die to make
men free While God is marching on Glory, glory, hallelujah Glory, glory, hallelujah Glory,
glory, hallelujah His truth is marching on Thank you, Isaac. Turn with me
back to Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 9. Looked at this entire chapter
a few times this week. at one point thinking I'd bring
a message from the entire chapter, but I believe the Lord has led
me to this portion of Scripture in verse 26. Look at verse 26 with me. But now, once
in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by
the sacrifice of himself. I've titled the message, One
Sacrifice. One Sacrifice. One of the first things we see
here is we have one problem. If you look at this just short
text here, you'll see we have one problem. And that one problem is sin. What is sin? You know, in Mark 7, there were
some scribes and Pharisees that came to our Lord, and they saw
the disciples, and they were eating bread, and they hadn't
washed their hands before they ate. Eating bread with unwashing hands,
and they found fault with that. The Pharisees considered that
to be sinful. You know my problem. My problem
has nothing to do with what goes in my mouth. My problem is what comes out
of it. And that has nothing to do with
whether I wash my hands or not. In organized religion, men tend
to look at things and determine what they consider to be small
sins and great sins. Probably has a lot to do with
the sins they commit, doesn't it? If I commit them a lot, I'd
say they're small sins, right? But that's not the case. Some considered sin being around
the wrong people. They called our Lord a sinner. They called him a sinner because,
listen, because he healed a man on the Sabbath day. Sin is disobedience to God's
command. Not just a few selected ones. Any of them. In fact, all of
them. Scripture says, whosoever shall
keep the whole law and yet offend in one point. Does that just make him a partial
sinner? Whosoever shall keep the whole
law and yet offend in one point is guilty of all." Guilty of
the whole law. Adam was guilty of sin. All the way back to the garden,
God had given him and Eve that beautiful garden to dress and to keep it. This time of year, we do that,
don't we? We plant flowers and we pull
the weeds and we put down mulch. Think about that. And they had
no weeds to contend with. Just to dress and keep that garden
and to enjoy the fruits of it. And God commanded Adam, he said,
of every tree of the garden, thou mayest freely eat. but of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. Thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day that you eat thereof,
thou shalt surely die." And in time, it's not recorded
how long. I imagine it was just a short
amount of time. Eve was deceived by the serpent. She was convinced that that tree
was good for the flesh. It was pleasant to the eyes. It was desired to make one wise. Isn't that true of every sin? It looks good. It's pleasant
to the eyes. A desire to have it, and she
ate it, and then she took that and she gave it to Adam. And
Adam, he wasn't deceived. God had told him, don't eat of
it. But he disobeyed God. And he
took and he ate of it, and as the representative head of all
our race, When she gave that fruit to him and he took it and
he ate it willingly and he ate it knowingly, when he disobeyed
God, he transgressed God's law. In God's Word, we read this in
Romans 5 verse 12, it says, Wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into
the world. And death by sin, so death passed
upon all men. And it all had sinned. When Adam
fell, there in the garden, when Adam fell, we all fell in him. He disobeyed. That's sin. He
disobeyed God's law. You know David, when he had sinned
with Bathsheba, what did he later say? To the Lord God, he said,
against thee. Who's that sin against? That
sin's against God. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in your sight, in the sight of Almighty
God. Scripture says we're born in
sin. We're shapen in iniquity. We come forth from the womb,
speaking lies. We love darkness. What's our
choice, huh? If we exercised our free will,
what would it be? Darkness. Darkness rather than
light. We're dead. Dead in trespasses
and sin. And that is where we will remain. unless the Lord in mercy is pleased
to save us. Is that so? Is that what scripture
says? Look, turn with me to Jeremiah
chapter 13. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter
13. Look at verse 23. The prophet writes here, ìCan the
Ethiopian change his skin? Can the leper change his spots? then may ye also do good that
are accustomed to doing evil. This is true of all men. All
have sinned. All have sinned. All. We understand that word, don't
we? All. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Sin is deceitful. It was sin, listen, sin that
put that crown of thorns on our Savior's head. That when that
soldier, he did what God determined to do, but he did what his wicked
heart desired when he thrust that sword into his side. Made him suffer anguish. Bitterness. He suffered, caused him to suffer
unto death. It's sin that has separated us
from Almighty God. That's what Scripture says. Your iniquities have separated
between you and your God. Your sins have hid His face from
you that He will not hear. In James 1 verse 15 we read,
When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin,
when it is finished, it bringeth forth death. That's us, dead. Dead in trespasses
and sin. We think we have a lot of problems,
right? Truly we have one. One great
problem, and that's sin. And then if you turn back to
Hebrews 9, Hebrews 9 verse 26, we read we have one Savior. He. He. He appeared to put away sin. The Lord Jesus Christ, He removed
the sins of His people. Now if you listen to false preachers,
they talk about a man who wants to save, but he can't do that by himself. They talk about a Savior that
is dependent upon man. You know a Savior that is dependent
upon man? I ask you, what kind of Savior
is that? That's no Savior. Imagine Peter, there when he
began to sink. Remember his prayer? He said,
Lord save me. What if our Lord would have just
held His hand up just a little higher and He said, Peter, if
you can just reach up here and grab my hand, I'll save you. I need you to do something, Peter. We can't do anything, can we?
The Lord reached down and He grabbed a hold of Peter. He saved
him. He's the Savior. They speak of one who's weak
and defeated. That's no Savior. The Scriptures
declare one who is mighty to save, a successful Savior, a
triumphant Savior. Who is he that cometh from Edom
in dyed garments of basra, this one that is glorious in his apparel? What's it say about him? That one who is mighty, mighty
to save. The Lord Jesus Christ is very
God of very God. He is the Messiah, the anointed
one. Call his name Jesus for he shall
save his people from their sin. He came down. God was made a man. He came down
from heaven. God was made a man. And he came
to this earth and he suffered and died on the cross. And he was buried in a tomb. But he didn't remain there, did
he? No, he was risen. He's a victorious savior. This corruptible must put on
incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have been put on incorruption, this mortal shall put on immortality,
then shall it be brought to pass the saying that is written, death
is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death, what is it?
Sin. The strength of sin is the law,
but thanks be unto God which giveth us the victory. The what? The victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the conquering savior. Scripture
says we're more. We're more than conquerors through
him that loved us. the successful savior of his
people. He shall not fail. Can that be said of any other? Not in truth, can it? He shall
not fail. He died as a covenant redeemer
for a covenant people. He died to accomplish the work
given him by His Father, a work given Him from before the foundation
of the world. And that work, it wasn't left undone. That work
is finished. As He suffered on the cross,
that was His cry, wasn't it? It is finished, complete, done. He cannot fail. He's not a frustrated redeemer. He's not a disappointed or defeated
savior. He's not a poor, weak reformer
up in heaven wringing his hands wondering what man's going to
do. Oh, my friends, he is seated. Seated at the right hand of the
majesty on high. And there he sits expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool. And he's been given a name that
is above every name. At the name of Jesus, at the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, every knee is going to bow and
every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. to the glory of God the Father. And that's a true statement whether
you believe it or not. That's a true statement whether
you're lost or saved. He is Lord. And the Father hath
given all things, all things into his hands. Remember Brother Henry saying
this one time, he said, Christ isn't a fire escape from hell. He's Lord. He's not a doormat
that men wipe their feet on named Jesus. No, my friends, he is
Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord. And we read here in our text
that he appeared to put away sin. The Lord Jesus Christ put
away the sins of his people. Turn with me to Romans chapter
10, just a few pages over, Romans chapter 10. Look at verse 9, Romans 10, verse
9. That if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. He. He appeared to put away sin. And then we read that He appeared
one time. One time. You know those priests
of old, they came continually. Day after day, year after year.
But you know what they could never do? They could never put
away sin. Our Lord appeared One time. One time. Once, see that there? Once in the end of the world
hath he appeared to put away sin. Now he had, our Lord appeared
many times in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. How
often in the Old Testament do we read of the angel, the angel
of the Lord appeared? time and time again. And in particular,
he's referred to as, if you look in Daniel, we won't turn there,
but in Daniel chapter 3, remember that Nebuchadnezzar, he had cast
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into that fiery furnace. They had refused to bow to the
golden image that he had set up. And he was so mad he had
that oven cranked up just as hot as it would go. And then he looked into that
furnace and he said this, he said he
was astonished. And he rose up in haste and he
spake to his counselors and he said, didn't we just cast three
men into that furnace? Just three? And they answered the king and
they said, of course he could have probably said anything at
that point the way he was casting folks into that oven, but they
said, true, you just cast three in there. And what'd he say? I see four. Lo, I see four men,
loose. They're not bound. They're walking.
The flames haven't even touched them. No hurt on them. The form of the fourth is like
unto the Son of God. That shouldn't come as any surprise. Those religious Jews, they had
said to him, they said, you're not even 50 years old and you're
saying you've seen Abraham? What did he say? Our Lord said
unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, truly, truly, I say
unto you, before Abraham was, I am. He's eternal. He appeared a number of times
after his resurrection. But this verse here, it says
he appeared Once. Once. One offering. By one offering, He hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified, them that are set apart. One
offering. Christ also hath once suffered
for sins. He suffered the just for the
unjust. For what purpose? To bring us,
to bring his people to God. And here in our text we read
that he appeared one time, once for this purpose, to put away
sin. Sin, the filth of it. And yet he put it away by his
shed blood. The guilt of sin. He put it away
by his sin atoning sacrifice. What about the punishment of
sin? The wages of sin is death. The penalty of sin, the penalty
of the law, that's what it requires. By his death he put it away. He put away the dominion of its
power by his grace. He appeared once in the end of
the world to put away sin. He bore our sins in His body
on the tree. He carried them. That's what
Scripture says. Surely He hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. He took them away. Behold the
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He removed them. He removed them. In our laundry room, we had a
big tub of detergent. I don't know why it's blue, but
it was blue, and it turned over. And that carpet is stained. It's carpet that you're not even
supposed to be able to stain. There's no removing that stain. But the stain we bear, our sin, the Lord has taken it away. It's gone. It's gone. In Psalm 103 verse 12, it says
this, "'As far as the East is from the West, so far hath He removed our transgression
from us.' He appeared once, once in the
end of the world, to put away sin. That one problem, huh? What is it? Sin. We have one
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, only one. And here we read of
one time. That's effectual, isn't it? When
you have to try to keep removing something and removing something,
that's ineffectual. His sacrifice was effectual.
It got the job done. He put it away. And then last,
last we read here in our text of one sacrifice. Again, those priests, they stood. That's what Scripture
says, they stood daily, offering oftentimes the same sacrifices
which could never take away sin. But the Lord Jesus Christ, he
made one sacrifice for sins. One. Look here, it says one sacrifice. He put away the sins of his people
by the sacrifice of himself. One sacrifice. A perfect, a perfect
sacrifice. That Passover lamb that we read
of in the Old Testament, it was the choice lamb. It was a lamb
without spot and without blemish. The Lord Jesus Christ is perfect. He is sinless. Why is it so important that He
be perfect? It must be perfect to be accepted. A blood sacrifice. He gave his
life. He shed his blood. He was nailed
to the cross. That soldier pierced his side
and out came water and blood. Scripture says his blood was
shed for the many. And without the shedding of blood,
If that blood's not shed, there is no remission. Who did that? He himself alone. The sacrifice of himself. Not, listen, not Christ and combined
with man's sacrifice. My sacrifice doesn't mean anything.
My sacrifice isn't worth anything. The sacrifice of himself, man contributes nothing. Turn with me just a page over
to Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10, look at verse 11. I'll finish up here. Hebrews
10 and 11. Every priest standeth daily ministering and offering
oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. Think about that. Those sacrifices
offered over and over, all that blood that was shed, all those
animals that were slain, they could never take away sin. He said, they stand, standeth,
they're standing. If you're standing, the work's
not finished. Verse 12, but this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, he sat down. sat down on the right hand of
God. He made one sacrifice for sin forever. They offered many. Our Lord offered one. They stood,
indicating the work was never finished. He sat down, indicating
what? That it is finished, the work's
done, it's complete. Verse 13, from henceforth, expecting,
till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering,
just one, one perfect offering, he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. We misuse that word perfect on
a a pretty frequent basis, right? There's a lot of things we refer
to as perfect, but there's only one. There is
only one who is perfect. Nothing in this world is perfect.
I'm not perfect. You're not perfect. Paul said,
in this flesh, what? Dwelleth no good thing. I'd like to be. Wouldn't that
be nice? But I'm not. But you know the
believer, you think about this for a minute, the believer is
perfect. How's that? In Christ, in Him. He has perfected forever. It's not going to go away. I'm
not going to lose that perfection because of what He did. He hath
perfected forever them that God sanctified, them
that God set apart by His one perfect sacrifice. The redemption of His people. It's complete. We're saved by
the grace of Almighty God. Our sin, it's been, listen, it's
been put away. Conquered. Scripture says sin
shall not have dominion over you. What about Satan? Conquered. Through the death
of Christ, he has destroyed him who had power over death. Thanks be unto God who has given
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. One sacrifice, one perfect sacrifice. All right.