Hebrews chapter 9. I want to begin reading in the
24th verse and finish this chapter this afternoon. Hebrews chapter
9 and verse 24. 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 entered into the holy places, the holy place every year with
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, and 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." I want us to consider tonight,
I think what the Apostle Paul is teaching in his verses here,
that the death of Christ, His atonement that He made, satisfaction
for sin, is linked, vitally linked to our hope. what has happened
in the past, what has already taken place, secures our hope,
our hope of heaven at last, our hope of glory at last. And one of the reasons I think
that makes this talking about this hope in that light is what
he says here in verse 27. It is appointed unto men once
to die, but after this the judgment. If there is no death appointed,
then we don't need hope, do we? You know, it's in the light of
death that hope is so precious to us. And He tells us here that
it's appointed. Death is appointed to us. You know, we can look around
us and see our friends, people that we went to school with,
our co-workers, our family, And as you get older, you start looking
around you, and a lot of those people are gone. And death is one of the strangest
things to me, how we think about it. The wise man said something
about man's thought is that he'll abide forever. We seem to know
better in our subconscious, but do you think you're going to
die before we get out of here tonight? I don't. I don't think
I'm going to die tomorrow. I know I'm going to die, but
I don't think it's soon. And I imagine that's the way
everybody probably says in a way what the fool said. You know,
you've got many goods laid up for many years, but we can look
around us and we should know better. But this is one of the
things that makes death so sure. It's appointed. God has appointed
it. No man appoints his death. God
has not given to any man that option and that privilege. Every
man's death is appointed of God. And we don't know what it is,
do we? But you know something? I'm glad it's that way. If He
said to me, Bruce, I'm going to leave it with you, you know
what I'd say? Lord, I don't want to be trusted
with that. That's a solemn That's a solemn time and event. And I just refer to this one
old woman who said right back to Him, I want you to be the
one. And you know, He's appointed
every man his death. And that assures it, doesn't
it? That assures it. There's no chance. There's been only two men that
ever escaped death. And that was Enoch and Elijah.
And the only other group that's going to escape death is that
bunch of believers that are here when the Lord Jesus Christ returns.
And death is appointed to everybody else. We're all going to die.
And in the light of that, I think we can see why this is so important
tonight, to have a hope that's been secured, that's already
been secured for us. And I think that's what the Apostle
Paul is teaching here in these verses, that he's linking our
hope to the future. our hope to heaven and all that
that entails when we say we hope for heaven at last. Man, that
entails the resurrection, doesn't it? That entails eternal glory
when we talk about heaven at last. And he links this to what
the Lord Jesus Christ has already done for us in the past. Our hope is not built on who
we are. The foundation of our hope doesn't
rest on our character. or our conduct? It's more sound
than that if we have a good hope through grace. A good hope rests
upon this very fact of what the Son of God has already done in
the days of His flesh. He atoned for sin, He was buried,
He was risen, and He's ascended at the right hand of God. Now that's what He said there
in verse 24, isn't it? He's entered not into the holy places made
with hands, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence
of God for us. And the fact that He's there
secures our hope of being there ourself. I want you to hold that
and look over in John's Gospel chapter 14. The Lord made these
two statements that teach the very same thing. I may, this
probably, John 14 is probably a good commentary on verse 24
that He is in the presence of God and what He is doing there.
But look here how He says it in John's Gospel chapter 14 and
begin reading here in verse 1. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are
many mansions, Many dwelling places. If it were not so, I
would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. Now, he is not speaking of mansions.
He is not speaking that he is going to prepare heaven for.
The mansions, he said, the dwelling places are already there. There
are dwelling places. He is speaking here in a spiritual
sense, from a spiritual aspect. He is going to prepare are to
obtain reconciliation with God, our access unto the Father, and
then through that, heaven. That's what he's talking about.
I'm going to my Father's right hand. I'm going to prepare a
place for you. And look at verse 3. And if I
go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive
you unto Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. Now, what was their hope based
upon? What was their hope of being
with Christ based upon? Was it the fact that they were
apostles? Or was it the fact that they were faithful men or
suffered for the cause of Christ? None of that. Their hope of being
with Christ one day was based upon this, I go to prepare a
place for you. That's the foundation of hope,
isn't it? And that makes it a sure hope. Because the foundation
of hope is already laid. And to make void that hope, or
not to have that hope realized, then the foundation would have
to be rooted up. And how in the world is that
going to happen? How can you undo what has already been done?
How can you undo the death of Christ and the resurrection of
Christ? They are at the right hand of
the Father. So he goes on to say, Thomas said unto him, We
don't know where you're going and we can't know the way. And
Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man comes unto the Father but by Me. So he's saying there
that your place in heaven is already secured. And I secured
it because I go to prepare a place for you. Look on down in verse
19 in that very same chapter. He says really the same thing.
Tell them where their hope, the foundation of their hope, lays.
Look in verse 19. Yet a little while, and the world
seeth me no more. But you see me, because I live,
you shall live also. What does he mean you shall live?
Not just live spiritually. Live in fellowship
with my Father. Live eternally. Life is yours
and I've assured it to you. Why? Because I live. Because
I live. That's a good foundation for
hope, isn't it? A good foundation for hope. Our hope, one man said, of eternal
life has a foundation that has already been laid. And that foundation
can never be broken up. These verses, I think, are a
good commentary on Romans 9, 24 where he said, Christ has
entered into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of
God for us. This is the place that Christ
has prepared for us. Reconciliation with the Father,
access unto the Father by one Spirit, and then heaven at last. talking about a place, I go to
prepare a place for you. Don't we come to that place every
time we pray? We come there spiritually, don't
we? Come boldly to the throne of grace that you may obtain
mercy? That place has been prepared. If Christ hadn't gone, we couldn't
have had a throne of grace, could we? We couldn't have had mercy,
a throne of mercy to go through. So every time now we come to
God through Christ, we come to a throne of grace and mercy that
He's prepared for us. I go to prepare a place for you. And this not only assures our
spiritual access now, but a sure hope of entering heaven at last,
body, soul, and spirit. just like our Lord Jesus Christ
Himself. Paul's argument in this, that
everything that stood in our way of returning to God, of being
reconciled to God and justified with God, has been taken out
of the way. Everything that stood in our
way of being reconciled to God and being justified with God
was taken out of the way than the access to heaven. There is
no question about that. The real question is how can
God be just and justify the ungodly? That is the real question. How
can we who are enemies be friends again? That is the real question.
So when the Lord Jesus said, I'm going to prepare a place
for you, He wasn't speaking of a physical place as we know it. But He was talking about reconciliation
to the Father, that throne of grace that we can come through.
And then through that to heaven and glory at last. And the fact that Jesus our Savior
is now in the very presence of God in heaven assures us of these two things. It assures
us of these two things. First one, and we've studied
on this so many times because we see this in the book of Hebrews
so often, that what the Lord Jesus undertook in a way of atoning
for sins was accomplished. It was accomplished. Do you think
that He'd be there in the presence of holiness? in the presence
of God, if He had not accomplished putting our sins away. The Apostle
Paul tells us here in these verses, in verse 28. Look back over here
at our text again, what he tells us in these verses. Look in verse
28. Christ was once offered to bear
the sins of many. He bore the sins of many. And
then verse 26, look at verse 26. 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. So you have the transfer
of sins put on him. And then he suffered for those
sins and put them away. And we not only have the testimony
of the Bible that he put them away, but we have the reality
of where he is now. And it shows that He has accomplished
what He undertook to do, satisfy for sin. I have no problem at
all, brothers and sisters, I'll be honest with you, in a matter
of trust, I have no problem at all putting all of my trust in
the Lord Jesus Christ that He did in fact satisfy God for my
sins. And the reason I have no problem
with that is because of where He is now. If the Father has
approved of Him and raised Him and set Him at His own right
hand, then He must have succeeded in His work. And the fact that
He's in the presence of God, that tells us that doesn't it?
That's the first thing it tells us. That He has indeed satisfied
for our sin. What He undertook to do, He did. And this takes us right back
to the first chapter of this epistle. where the apostle Paul
said when he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the
right hand of the majesty on high. And then that very same
chapter he said this, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee, speaking of the resurrection of the dead. Then he went right
on to that same chapter and said, sit at my right hand until I
make thine enemy thy footstool. So he has satisfied for sin.
and the evidence that He's done it, He is seated in God's presence. That's the first thing that this
teaches us. And then the second thing that we're considering
tonight, it assures us that our hope of a full and eternal salvation
will be realized because He's there for us. And He told us in the sixth chapter
He's there as our forerunner, didn't He? I go to prepare a
place for you, and when I do, I will return again and receive
you unto myself, that where I am, where is He? We just read it differently.
He is in the presence of God. where I am, there you may be
also." So His presence there with God assures everyone for
whom He atoned will be there with Him someday. What a sure
foundation then for hope, isn't it? If it was in our conduct, if
it was in what we were doing or abstaining from doing, And
sometimes our hope would seem pretty good, and other times
we would lose it altogether. But our hope is not based upon
things like that, but upon where He is after He did what He did. This is why the Apostle Paul
in these verses continually insists that the sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ can never be repeated. If it must be repeated, if there's
a need for it to be repeated, what does that say about our
hope? Our hope is in what? This one
tremendous sacrifice that it was indeed effectual on our behalf. Look at these places. I want
to just emphasize this because everywhere that I looked as I
was considering this, I thought, man, there it is again. But look
here what he says in chapter 7, and look in verse 27. This one sacrifice, and once
and for all, never to be repeated. Look what he said in verse 27.
Who needeth not daily, as those high priests to offer up sacrifice
first for His own sin and then for the people. For this He did
once. He did once when He offered up
Himself. And look in chapter 9 and verse
12. We were on this just a couple
of weeks ago or so. Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by His own blood, He entered in once into the holy
place having obtained eternal redemption for us. And look in
verse 26 again. 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 again in verse 28. So Christ
was once offered to bear the sins of many. And look how He
says it in chapter 10. And look in verse 10, by the
which will, he just got finished saying, Lo, I come to do your
will, and verse 10, by the which will we are sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. And every high priest standeth
daily, ministering, offering oft times the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sin. But this man, after he hath offered
one sacrifice, one sacrifice for ever, sat down on the right
hand of God, from henceforth expect until his enemies be made
his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
for ever them that are sanctified." There is no doubt that there
are passages like this written in anticipation of eras that
were going to creep into the church. And there is no doubt
the Apostle Paul kept emphasizing this as did he in other places.
Listen to Romans 6.10, For in that he died, he died unto sin
once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Listen to
Peter, for Christ also has once suffered for sin. And this is
an anticipation, no doubt, of what we've seen today and for
hundreds of years now. But don't you imagine there was
a group of Jews that brought out this corrupt doctrine that
said, well, If these bulls and calves and heifers are a figure
of Christ, and they died often, then He must have died in those
beasts. He must have suffered in the
beasts. So He suffered often. Do you
think anybody could come up with something that stupid? Well, they did. They did. I brought my little Catholic
book with me. Sometimes you guys got to put up with me when I
get off on the Catholic. I'll tell you what's the truth. Transubstantiation,
you know what that is? Christ suffers in every mass.
Transubstantiation. This is not rumors I'm spread
on. When I say that Catholicism is the most corrupt organization
this world has ever known, I prove it. This is the pocket Catholic
dictionary. Listen to what they say about
transubstantiation and the math. The complete change of the substance
of bread and wine into the substance of Christ's body and blood by
a validly, validly ordained priest during the consecration at Mass. While the faith behind the term
was already believed in apostolic times, the term itself was later
developed. Well, the faith was believed
that Christ suffers often in the Mass, was believed by the
apostles, was it? I just quoted them, didn't I? Christ suffered once. Let me
read what they say about the Mass. Here's what they say about
the Mass. Here's the definition of the Mass. The same Christ
who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross
is present and offered in an unbloody manner The Mass is a
truly perpetuary sacrifice, which means that by his offering, the
Lord is appeased, he grants grace and the gift of repentance, and
he pardons wrongdoings and sins, even grave ones, for it is one
and the same victim. He who now makes the offering
through the ministry of priests And he who then offered himself
on the cross are one and the same. When they pray the blessing over
the wine and the bread, the priest turned that into the literal
body of Jesus Christ. And he suffers in that body as
surely as he did upon the cross. Let me see if I've got one, listen
to this. The Mass is also a memorial. Christ died, Christ's death is
commemorated not only as a psychological remembrance, but as a mystical
reality. He voluntarily offers himself
the eternal High Priest as really and truly as he did on Calvary. Let me read you this. The priest
is indispensable in this mass since he alone by his powers
can change the elements of bread and wine unto the body and blood
of Jesus Christ. Now that's, here's why Catholicism
is so dangerous. Just let me say this and I'll
get right back. But here's why it's so dangerous.
You can look at the cults and say, man, that's crazy. That's
plain crazy. Catholicism believes in the divinity
of Jesus Christ. They believe that He atoned for
sins on Calvary. They believe that He's God in
our humanity. They cry up His divinity. on
one hand, just to turn around on the other hand and blaspheme
Him and cry Him down. And while they say that He is
the only mediator between us and God, they say we need a mediator
between us and Christ, which is Mary. They have this blasphemous
doctrine that one saint can build up merit to give to another saint,
They do not believe in justification by faith alone, but works must
be added. They believe in purgatory, a
halfway house. When many saints die, they suffer
there until another saint pays that person out of purgatory. And just on and on you go. I've
got their book. I've read their book. I know
what they say. It's so blasphemous. Their doctrine
is blasphemous. And you know what? The practice
is corrupt. Did you know, you probably didn't
know this, but did you know in the mid-30s, 1934-35, the government
of Mexico, what they call Old Mexico, invaded the, what did
they call the places where the nuns lived? No, it's the monasteries where
the priests are. The convents. They had so many
rumors about the corruption in the convents. The government
of Mexico literally invaded their convents. And when they went
in there, they found the nuns were being used as sex slaves.
They found torture chambers. Well, the nuns wouldn't cooperate.
The little sisters, we've still got them today. Their fathers
and mothers take the little girls and they keep them in white dresses,
and then when they graduate into the black dresses, they start
forcing them to have sex with the priest. They found places
in the basement where they buried their babies. The nuns were pregnant. They found vacant wells full
of babies' bones. Luther said in his day, the monastery
was full of what he called sodomites. Homosexuals and lesbians. And
he said the venereal disease was running rampant. And it's
still that way today. I was reading one of the Catholic
magazines back when they had the big scandal about the child
abuse. And one fellow, their own editor of the Catholic magazine,
he was so disgusted with them, he said, let's open this up.
Let the prosecutors come in and open this up and get to the bottom
of this. But they couldn't. And you know why they couldn't?
Too much money. Too many judges who are Catholic.
Too many senators who are Catholic. But you know what would happen
today if they went into the monasteries? The same thing is happening today.
They have sex slaves that they made out of these nuns. And it's
pathetic. It's awful. Homosexuality is
rampant in these places. And if they ever opened it up
and let the light shine in those places, you would shut the whole
Catholic mess down. And isn't it amazing that they're
all over the world? And every time that man comes
to speak at St. Peter's, you've got thousands
of people there cheering him while he speaks and comes to
kiss his ring? It's blasphemous in their doctrine
and they're corrupt in their practice. And every time I come
to a passage of Scripture like this that I get an opportunity,
sometimes I can't have it, but to expose that. And I wish, the
church is not going to bring it down, If it ever comes down
in this life, it will be because God is using the government to
bring it down. The church has tried it. The church can't bring
it down. I guess it's going to take the
government when some of these scandals come down, if it ever
does. So that's why Paul said, made
the statement here, the death, the one-time death of the Lord
Jesus Christ and His ascension to heaven at the right hand of
God, that secures our hope of being there at last. It secures
our hope. That's the foundation of our
hope. Our hope is vitally linked to what took place in the past. Boy, that's where Christianity
is different than every other religion in this world. Every
other religion is determined by what you're doing right now.
Your relationship with God is just determined on what you're
doing right now. Our relationship with God, the foundation of it
was laid at the cross 2,000 years ago. And I tell you, if you want
to go back further than that, you go back all the way before
the foundation of the world. When the foundation of God was
laid for eternal salvation, and Jesus Christ stood up to be the
surety of His people. So that's the first thing we
see here in what the Apostle Paul is talking about, the death
of Christ, Him giving Himself to put away sin. That's so vitally
linked to our hope. And then in closing, he gives
us here the nature of hope. This is the nature of hope in
verse 28. I guess you would call it that. I don't know what a
better name. But he says here 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, without a sin sacrifice
unto salvation. What is the nature of hope? Looking. Looking for Him. Looking for
Him. You know everybody is going to
see Him. When He appears, everybody is going to see Him. John said,
Every eye shall see Him, didn't he? When He is coming, every
eye shall see Him. Even those who pierced Him, they
are going to see Him. The earth is going to wail because
of Him. His people, His redeemed ones, those who love Him, they
are the ones that are looking for Him, looking for His appearance. There are three appearances in
these texts. that I just read to you. In verse 26, look, here's a period
of his humiliation. Well, 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. That's the first appearance. That's a time of humiliation.
Born of a virgin, born in a manger, suffered and died. And then in
verse 24, Here's another appearance. He's now in heaven itself to
appear in the presence of God for us. He's appearing for us
in heaven now. And then the last appearance
is here in verse 28, where those who look for Him shall He appear
the second time. He's going to appear again. We're
waiting on that, aren't we? And you know, He's going to appear
physically. The same Jesus, who was taken up from you shall so
come again in like manner. He's coming back physically.
The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. Folks,
that's real. That is real. Jesus Christ raised
in a body and He's glorified and He's coming back in a body,
Wayne. He's coming back in a body. And you know what? It's going
to be sudden. It's going to be sudden. The world's not looking
for it. In the hour that they think not, He's coming. It's
going to be sudden. In the twinkling of an eye, the
Apostle Paul said, didn't he? Sudden, and it's going to be
glorious. Because He's glorious. And He's
coming with His mighty angels in flaming fire. And the nature
of this hope that we have in Him is we're looking for Him. If you know somebody's coming
to your house and you love them, And they're your dear, dear friend
and you just admire them. And you can't hardly believe
that you've got such a friend as they are. And they say, Friday,
I'm coming to your house. I'll be there Friday. I'm coming
sometime Friday. What are you going to be doing
Friday? You're going to be looking at you. You're going to be looking. Colleen said, Wayne, I need you
to run down. I said, I'm not going anywhere. My friend is
coming. I wouldn't think about being
gone. And my friend's coming. When you know your friend is
coming, boy, you watch, don't you? You look. You desire it. You long for it. You even pray
for it. We're looking for the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this hope drastically affects
our conduct. It just affects you and your
heart and the way you live and the way you think and what you
do and what you get involved in. Listen to I John chapter
3. 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, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. But we know
that when he shall appear, there it is, when he shall appear,
we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Every
man that hath this hope in him, purify himself. Boy, if you've
got a hope, a good hope through grace beyond this life, it's
in your coming Savior. I tell you, sometimes it just
catches your heart away, doesn't it? Especially during a time
of sufferings and heartaches and sicknesses. This is how Paul
described it. He said, The grace of God that
brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that
denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly
and righteously and godly in this present world, looking for
that glorious appearance of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. And here's the way Peter says,
seeing that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner
of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
looking and hastening unto the coming of the day of God. For in the heaven shall be on
fire, and melt with fervent heat. But we, according to His promise,
look for a new heaven and a new earth. That's our hope. We're looking. And here's what
the Lord Jesus said, Father, I will, that they whom Thou hast
given Me be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory. And for how long? Forever. Forever. And this made poor John cry out
when he was on the Isle of Patmos suffering. Rejected. His name was despised and cast
out. This made him cry out. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Oh,
that's a good hope, isn't it? We're all going to die. Every
one of us here tonight is going to die. God's appointed it. We're going to die. What a blessing
then to have a hope. And what a blessing to have it
rest upon such a foundation as this that we've looked at tonight. I think if I didn't have a good
hope, my heart would break, don't you? My heart would break. What's in this world worth living
for? If it wasn't for serving the Lord and seeking His glory
and the good of poor, eternity-bound souls, there'd be nothing in
this life worth living for. Everything's passing away. Everything's
fading away. Oh, thank God, then, for this
hope. And thank God that this is sheer and steadfast hope.