I invite you to open your Bibles
this morning to the book of Hebrews. I have prayed earnestly today
that God would give me a good, strong, solid, plain gospel message,
one that would sum up the way of life, the pardon of sin, the
forgiveness of transgressions, redemption as it is in Christ
Jesus, that I might present to this television audience the
way of life made plain And I believe I have that message, and I want
you to listen. I want you to listen as carefully
and prayerfully as you can as I speak to you on this subject.
Now, here's the subject. He hath appeared to put away
sin. He hath appeared to put away
sin. I'm reading from Hebrews 9, verse
26. Now, I'll be using several verses
from Hebrews 9, so just open your Bibles. And follow along
with me as I preach on this subject today. He hath appeared to put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself. That's what the Scripture
said. Now, I encourage you, listen as far as eternity. Someone said,
everything that we do and hear and say ought to be done in the
light of death, judgment, and eternity. For those are three
engagements we'll all keep. It's appointed unto men once
to die, After that, the judgment, and then eternity. And my theme
today, I believe, is the greatest theme of all ages, the appearance
of Jesus Christ on this earth to put away sin. Moses wrote
about it. Moses wrote about it. Our Lord
said that Moses wrote of me. When did he write about Christ?
Well, I'll tell you, one time, there were several times, but
one time he said this, God will raise up a prophet. from the
midst of thee, from Israel, from among your brethren, unto him
shall ye hearken." And all the way down through the years, they
would ask this question, is that person that prophet? Is this
man that prophet? Is this one that prophet? You
remember the woman at the well asked him if he was that prophet.
They asked John the Baptist if he were that prophet. So Moses
looked for the coming of Jesus Christ to stand on this earth.
Job wrote about it. He said, I know that my Redeemer
liveth, and he will stand on this earth. And I shall see him
myself with these eyes. I shall behold my Redeemer standing
on this earth. Abraham saw Christ's day. Our Lord said, Abraham rejoiced
to see my day, the day of his coming, the day of his appearance.
He saw it and was glad. When Jacob gathered his sons
about him to bless these 12 boys, you know what he said to Judah?
That's the kingly tribe. That's the tribe from which Christ
came. That was David's tribe. He said
to Judah, he said, the scepter shall not depart from Judah until
Shiloh, the king of peace, the prince of peace, shall come.
And then Simeon, the old man who waited in the temple for
the consolation of Israel, the Holy Ghost had appeared to him
and taught him that he would not see death till he had seen
that prophet, till he had seen Shiloh, till he had seen the
Christ, till he had seen the one whom God would send. And
when Maron Joseph brought the child Jesus into the temple to
do for him according to the law, Simeon took the child up in his
arms, and then he said, Lord, now let us thy servant depart
in peace according to your word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation."
Moses said, that prophet will come. Job said, my Redeemer will
stand on this earth. Jacob said, Shiloh will come. And the scepter shall not depart
from Judah until he comes. Well, that prophet has come.
The father said, this is my son. Hear ye him. The Redeemer has
come to Israel. Shiloh has appeared. The consolation
of Israel has stood on this earth, and his mission in coming was
to seek and to save that which was lost. He said, the Son of
Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. His task,
to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Paul wrote, this
is a true saying, and it's worthy of acceptation by every man,
that Jesus Christ is come into this world to save sinners. of whom I am the chief. And his
task was to reconcile us unto God. God hath reconciled us to
himself in the body and in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when the Apostle Paul writes
about this visitation of God to the earth, this coming of
that prophet, this coming of the Redeemer, this coming of
Shiloh, he speaks, now watch this, he speaks of three appearances
of Christ. Now, this is so important. This
is so vital to your spiritual well-being, to your spiritual
welfare. There are actually three appearances
of Christ. In the redemption of his people,
the Lord Jesus Christ is said to appear three times. Now, I
want you to watch it. Let's read Hebrews 9. You have
your Bible there. Follow along with me. Hebrews
9, 26. It says, "...Now once in the end of the world," or
in the latter days, in the last times, Hath he appeared, hath
Christ appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself? Now look at verse 24. Christ
is entered not into the holy place made with hands, which
is but a figure of the true, a picture, a symbol of the true,
but Christ is entered into heaven itself, listen, there now to
appear in the presence of God for us. You have two appearances
there. He hath appeared on this earth to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself." Now it says, Christ is entered into
heaven, not into the tabernacle or the temple or the synagogue,
but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God
for us. Now look at verse 28, "...unto
them who look for him shall he appear the second time." unto
them that look for him, unto them who expect him, unto them
who love him, unto them to whom he is vital and important. He
will appear again the second time without sin unto salvation."
Now, I know this. I'm wise enough to know this,
that no man can do justice to this theme in one sermon. This
calls for many, many sermons. But I want to do my best. This
is a grand theme. almost every aspect of our Lord's
redemptive work. I want to do what I can with
these three appearances to help you to understand God's redemption
of sinners. It's in Christ. It's in the person
of Christ. Everything that God has for a
sinner is in Christ. It's not in the ordinances, not
in the law, not in the church, not in the organizations, not
in the preachers of priests. Everything that the living God
has for a sinner is in Jesus Christ. And in these three appearances,
now let's look at the first one. Look at verse 26 again. It says,
"...he hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself."
What would you say is the greatest miracle of all ages? I'm talking
about from the time the universe began. until the universe ends. What do you think, in all of
time, in all of eternity, what would you say is the greatest,
most astonishing, most astounding miracle that has ever occurred?
What would you say? Well, somebody would say, well,
I believe creation. The Scripture says God spake
everything out of nothing. The worlds were created by the
Word of God. He said, let there be light,
and there was light. A sun and a moon and stars. Let the dry
land appear, and the dry land appeared, and was separated from
the seas and the trees. And then God made man in His
own image. That's miraculous, astonishing,
astounding. I agree with you. I believe it,
too. God created all things according to His will for His glory. That's
a great miracle. Somebody else says, well, what
about providence? In Him we live and move and have our being.
In Him all things consist. He controls all things. By His
providence, He works His will in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of this earth. Every star moves in its prescribed
course and along its prescribed path by the hand of God. Every
bird, not a bird, falls to the ground without your father. Every
hair in your head is numbered. God's all-wise, eternal, almighty
providence over even the specks of dust in the sun ray. I say
that's an astonishing, astounding miracle. You say, what about
resurrection? One of these days, God is going to raise the dead.
People have died thousands of years ago. There's just nothing
left. They've been buried and their graves dug up, and the
wind has blown all of the substance or matter. It's been scattered
all over the desert, and people have been buried at sea, and
fish have eaten their bodies, and they've died in the desert,
and the birds and the animals have eaten not only their Their
skin and flesh, but their bones, where are they? Scattered to
the four winds. But God says He's going to bring
those bodies back. The sea will give up the dead
in it. Death and hell will give up the dead which are in them.
And every man shall stand before the throne of God Almighty. That'll
be a day, won't it? That'll be a miracle. That'll
be an astounding, astonishing miracle. But I'll tell you, take
every bit of that, and none of it is as great a miracle as this.
Listen to me. God Almighty. became a man. If you talked about an angel
becoming a caterpillar, that wouldn't be as miraculous as
God becoming a man. The highest was made lower than
the angels. The highest came down here and
was made in the likeness of human flesh. He was in the world, and
the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. The eternal,
invisible God became a man. clothed in human flesh. The Creator,
watch it now, became a creature. He who made woman was made of
a woman. That's astonishing. That's astounding.
Ancient of days. The heaven of heavens cannot
contain Him. The earth is His footstool. You
couldn't build a house big enough for Him. The universe is in Him. He's not in the universe. It's
in Him. And yet, for 33 1�2 years, God Almighty was limited to and clothed in
human flesh. He appeared. He, capital H, capital
E, He appeared to put away sin. Now I ask four questions. First,
who appeared? Who appeared on this earth? Who
is this carpenter? Who is this so-called son of
Joseph? Who is this son of Mary? Who is this one that walks the
seashore who walks the hills of Judea. Who is this? He's none
other than God Almighty. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and all things
were made by Him. Without Him was not anything
made that was made, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us, with us. And we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. Jesus Christ is none other than
God Almighty. That's right, it said, unto us
a child is born, a son is given, and thou shalt call his name
Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. Who appeared? God clothed Himself
in human flesh. You'll find that all the way
through the Scripture. Paul's speaking to the elders at At
Ephesus, he said, feed the church of God, which he purchased with
his own blood. Unto the son, the father said, thy throne,
O God, is forever. And he is, in Hebrews chapter,
he said, he's greater than the angels, greater than Moses, and
greater than the house, for he built it. Who appeared? He appeared. How did he appear?
In human flesh, born of a woman, made under the law. He said,
one day, I and my father are one. And they began to take up
stones to stone him, all these religious people. who incidentally
were looking for a Messiah, who were looking for Christ, who
were looking for a Redeemer, but they weren't looking for
a poor and lowly one. They were looking for a high
and mighty one. They weren't looking for one that became flesh
and was clothed and made like an ordinary person, poor and
lowly. They were looking for one to
sit once again on the throne of David and restore a material
kingdom to the Jewish nation. He said, I and my father won.
They picked up stones to stone him. And he said, many good works
have I done among you. For which of these do you stone
me? They said, we're not stone. We got no objections to good
works. We're not stoning you for good works. I tell you why
we're stoning you. You're a man and you say you're
God. They understood what he was saying.
Do you understand what I'm saying? I didn't say he was a representative
of God. I didn't say he was a son of
God. He's the son of God. I didn't
say he was a special Messiah sent from God. I said what the
Scripture says, what Christ said, what the Father said. He is God
Almighty. That's important. He's not the
God-man. He's not the Savior-man. He couldn't
save a flea. If he's not God Almighty, he
died for his own sins, and he's still dying for them. And his
bones are in Jerusalem in a tomb, and his soul's in hell. Because
He said, I am the Father of one. No man ever laid claim to that
before. Why did He appear? To put away sin. Now, my friends,
sin, in case you didn't know it, is difficult to put away.
Now, the old Jewish sacrifices wouldn't put it away. That's
right. The Jewish sacrifices couldn't
do it. It says it's not possible that the blood of bulls and goats
should take away sin. Is that strong enough? Hebrews
says 10-4. You see, if sin is put away,
it's got to be put away. It's got to be pardoned and put
away in a way which is consistent with God's holiness, consistent
with God's righteousness. It's got to be in accord with
God's justice. In order for sin to be forgiven,
God just can't put His tongue in His cheek and say, well, let's
just forget it. No, He must punish sin. The soul
that sinneth, it must surely die. God will in no wise clear
the guilty. He will be just and justified.
And sin, if it's put away, has got to be put away in such a
way that the law is honored, justice is satisfied, God's holiness
is upheld. And the Jewish sacrifices couldn't
do that. No amount of suffering will put
away sin. Job suffered like no man, but
it wouldn't put away his sins. It wouldn't put away his guilt.
Death and hell will not put away sin. The rich man in hell, he
was in hell. The Scripture says, but his sins
were still on him. See, his death didn't put it
away, and his existence in hell didn't put it away, and good
works won't put it away. Not by works of righteousness,
which we've done. According to His mercy, He had
saved us. Christ appeared. The Son of God
appeared to put away sin. How did He put sin away? Well,
it says here, plainly, by the sacrifice of Himself. Not by
teaching. I know a lot of people want to
talk about Jesus Christ the teacher, Jesus Christ the preacher. Not
by healing, Jesus Christ the healer. I believe in miracles.
I believe God heals the sick. Well, who else would? God holds
life and death. How could you be healed without
God? If you heal, God does it. If you do not heal, God permits
it. He says, I kill and I make alive. Nobody can die without
God. Even if a sparrow can't fall to the ground without God,
how could you die without God? So it's not by healing or teaching
or miracles or even examples that He put away sin. It says
He put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Is that clear? I Peter 1, 18, we know that we're
not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold
from our vain conversation received by tradition from our fathers.
How are we redeemed? With the precious blood of Christ. as a lamb without blemish and
without spot. My friend, two words will sum
up the gospel and what I've been talking about the appearance
of Christ to put away sin. The first word is substitution.
Jesus Christ literally, actually took my place. He bore my sins
in his body on the tree. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us. He was wounded far in the stead
of, in the place of our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was laid on Him by His stripes we're healed." Substitution.
I deserved to die. He died instead. I deserved the
wrath of God. He took it instead. I deserved
to go to hell. He went there in my stead. That's
the only way I can escape. He satisfied the law as my representative. He died as my substitute, sacrifice,
sin offering. He enabled God to be just and
justifier by taking the place of all who believe. That's substitution. Do you know anything about it?
The second word is satisfaction. Now, against whom did we sin?
Against God. Then who must be satisfied? Not
you. I hear people say, I'm satisfied
with Jesus, my foot. Who cares whether you're satisfied
with Christ or not? It's God who must be satisfied.
I haven't sinned against you. God didn't sin against you, you
sin against God. It's God that must be satisfied.
What difference does it make whether you're satisfied with
Christ? I've got to know whether God's satisfied with Him or not.
He came down here as a man, tested in all points as we are, tempted,
tried, suffered, weary, hungry, walked under the law, died on
the cross, was buried and rose again. Now, who's satisfied with
Him? Well, to whom did He offer His
sacrifice? To whom did He offer His righteousness? To whom did
He offer the sin offering? To whom was He obligated to pay
the debt? To God Almighty. Well, is God
satisfied? Well, His resurrection says God's
satisfied. He'd still be in that grave if
the Father wasn't satisfied. He'd still be bound in the tomb.
He'd still be in bondage to the sin that He bore. But He came
forth out of the tomb, glorified, and ascended back to the Father.
The Father said, I'm satisfied. I'll take your payment on behalf
of everybody for whom you made it." God satisfied. So that's
the way sin's put away. Once in the end of the world,
in the latter days, hath He, He, He appeared in the flesh
to put away sin. Put it where? Put it away. And
not in layaway either. He put it away. He cast it in
the depths of the sea. He cast it behind His back. He
remembers it no more. He blotted it out. It's put away.
It'll never be heard from again. Now, you won't forget it. And
unfortunately, your friends won't forget it, but thank God He forgets
it. He said, I'll remember their
sins no more. He put it away. All right, notice the second
appearance. Will you look at verse 24? Christ is not entered into
the holy place made with hands, but into heaven itself. In heaven
itself, now, there's a key word, now to appear in the presence
of God for us. Now, you go back to the old tabernacle
set out there in the wilderness. And the high priest, you know,
they had the holy of holies and the holy place that was separated
with a veil. And you know how they had the
different sacrifices. They had the day of atonement
and the feast days and all the different sacrifices, a lot of
sacrifices. But one particular sacrifice,
once a year on the day of atonement, the high priest would take the
blood of a lamb, the sacrificial lamb, the lamb of atonement,
And he would crawl under that veil into the holy of holies,
into the most holy place, into the very presence of God. And
he would put that blood on the mercy seat. The mercy seat covered
an ark of the covenant in which was the broken law, the tables
of stone, Moses' Ten Commandments. And that solid gold mercy seat
over the top of it were the cherubims looking toward one another and
the Shekinah glory of God appearing right over the top of that mercy
seat. And that great high priest, once a year, would take that
blood of the Lamb And he would pour it on that mercy seat as
an atonement. Now, that blood couldn't put
away sin. It typified and pictured and symbolized the blood of Christ,
God's Lamb, that will put away sin. And every time that high
priest went into that Holy of Holies, once a year, Almighty
God looked to the cross. And that's when His Lamb, the
Lord Jesus Christ, would come and enter not into the holy place
made with hands. For when Christ died, that veil
was rent in two from the top to the bottom, just torn apart.
No more holy of holies, no more blood offering, no more Passover,
no more sacrifice, no more sin offering, for Christ by one offering
hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. And he went into
the presence of the Father." Now watch as we compare those
Old Testament priests, high priests, with our Lord Jesus. Now, there
were many of them. Only one Christ, one great high
priest. And these fellows were just men.
He was the God-man. And these fellows offered many
sacrifices. He, by one offering, perfected
forever them that are sanctified. They offered sacrifices for their
sins too, but He had no sin. And they offered the blood of
animals. He offered His own blood. They brought the sacrifice into
a tabernacle made with hand. He took it into the very presence
of the Father. Oh, can you get hold of this?
Can you lay hold on this? Those Jewish people stood outside
that tabernacle and waited while that human being, that high priest,
that son of Levi, went in with the blood of an animal under
the veil and put that blood on the mercy seat, and they had
some satisfaction. that God would look upon them
in mercy, that God would look upon them in their sins being
atoned for. Put it away. Now, you think God's
own Son, not a son of Levi, God's own Son, the perfect God-man,
not with the blood of an animal, with His own blood. having died
on the cross, buried and risen again, went not into the holy
place made with hands, not over a common wood and gold mercy
seat with tables of stone, but into the Father's own presence. He took His own blood and put
it on that mercy seat for me." Now, you talk about assurance. You talk about confidence. He
appears. But more than that, right now
He appears. What does that mean? That means
this, my friend. that we have one Mediator. Mary's not a Mediator for anybody. The priests on this earth and
whoever their bishops, cardinals, or pastors, whoever, are not
Mediators. They can't atone for your sins,
and they can't be your advocate, and they can't be your priest,
and they can't be your pleader with God. There's one God and
one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. That's what the Bible says. And
Paul could challenge heaven, earth, and hell. He said, who
can condemn me? Christ died. It's who died. Yea,
rather he's risen again, who is even at the right hand of
God. That's the hand of acceptance,
the hand of love, the hand of power, the right hand of God.
Whoever liveth right now to make intercession for me, for you,
for every believer. He appears. He appeared to put
away sin, the sacrifice of himself. He appears now in the presence
of the Father to make intercession. Now, one more appearance. Hebrews
9, 28. Do you have it? So Christ was once offered to
bear the sin of many, and unto them that look for Him shall
He appear. He's coming back the second time
without sin unto salvation. Our Lord came to this earth one
time in the flesh. He's going to come again in glory.
He came once as a lamb. He's coming back as a lion. He came once as a Savior. He's
coming back as a judge. He said, I'll be back. He said,
if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again. And when he ascended to the Father,
the angels stood there beside where he had stood. And they
said to those apostles, ye men of Galilee, this same Jesus which
is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner
as you've seen him go. The Lord Jesus, Paul wrote in
Thessalonians, shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels
in flaming fire, taking vengeance on all them that know not God
and all them that obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now,
His coming is going to signal the end of this earth. There'll
be a new heaven and a new earth. It's going to signal the resurrection
of the dead. It's going to signal the final
judgment. It's going to signal the beginning
of eternity. I tell you, Our Lord will appear. I'm looking for Christ. John
closed the book of Revelation and he said, even so come, Lord
Jesus. That's the way sin is put away. That's the way God can be just
and justify. That's the way God can pardon
all iniquity. Christ appeared to put it away.
He appears to intercede. He will come again. Now this
message I just preached, He hath appeared to put away sin. And
the one I'll bring next Sunday, the Lord willing, on Help My
Unbelief, is on a cassette tape, two messages on one tape. Send
a donation of two dollars, we'll mail you that tape. This one
I just preached and the one next Sunday. We'll be glad to hear
from you. Until next week, may God bless
you, everyone.