The passage before us, the keyword is appear or appeared. We'll hear it three times in the passage. It refers to Jesus. He appears, he appeared, and he will appear again.
So how do we benefit by his appearances? Let's think about these things. From Hebrews chapter 9, verses 23 through 28. This is the word of God.
Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered not in the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the truth is, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it offered himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own. For then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world.
But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. Amen. Let's look to the Lord in prayer.
Our Father, we ask that you would give us the spirit of wisdom and understanding and the knowledge of Christ, that you would enlighten the eyes of our hearts in the knowledge of him, that we would know the hope to which you have called us. In Jesus' name we ask you, amen. While I go in a frontier town, a horse bolted and ran away with a wagon with a little child in it. And a young man jumped on his own to catch it, and did, and stopped it, and rescued the little child.
But sadly, the rescued child grew up to be a lawless man. One day he stood before a judge to be sentenced for a serious crime, and the prisoner recognized the judge as the same man who years before had saved his life. And so he pled for mercy on the basis of that experience. But the words from the bench, silence all his pleas.
Young man, then I was your savior. Today I am your judge, and I must sentence you to be hanged. Jesus in this passage is presented to us as both savior and judge, sobering passage about the reality of the fact that we will all one day die and appear ourselves before the judgment of God. And it's spectacular in that the passage reminds us that Jesus is a great savior for all who trust in him.
And we are encouraged to do so. And so before we move to our outline, and I'll give that in just a moment, let me say this as well, that much of what's in this passage is old ground. That is the writers have been talking about the great high priesthood of Christ since way back in chapter four. And he's actually not going to finish until the middle of chapter 10.
And that might be a nice time to mention that, well, while we could have read it all in one sitting, that would have been hard to preach. But it'd be easily done and profitable to read. We also could have taken it one verse at a time, or perhaps two. So that also would have been profitable.
And such as the dilemma of any preacher. How much can we take on? How much can we hear in one sitting? But the writer repeats himself because he knows how important what he is saying is, and that's a mark of a good teacher, not one and done.
You know, I said it. Y'all heard it. Just get on board with it. But actually repetition and reiteration is the mark of a good teacher.
Well, like any parent's instructing their child says things more than once, or any teacher to their student, or like Jesus, so often with his disciples. He would say it again, and then again and again. So we're in a long section. I realize that some of this is very familiar now as we've looked through Hebrews.
Don't be weary of it. The author wants us to see Jesus. He wants to know that it's worth it to follow Jesus. And so let's consider our passage.
In three parts, first in verses 23, 24, Jesus appears now in the presence of God on our behalf. That's the first point. Then in the next two verses, 25 and 26, Jesus appeared once for all to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And then thirdly, in verses 27 and 28, Jesus will appear a second time to save those who are waiting for him.
Let's think about these appearances of Christ. In the first place, verses 23 to 24, Jesus appears now in the presence of God on our behalf. You see that verse 24 for Christ has entered. Notice the last in heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
Now why is that important? Well, the ultimate ritual explains why it's so important. Verse 23, thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rights, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices in these. What's he saying?
Well, he begins with the word thus. He's drawing a conclusion from, well, actually what we heard last week, where in verse 22, he summarized the Old Testament ceremonial rituals concerning blood and the priests bringing blood into the man-made tent and tabernacle. And so first 22, we're kind of working backwards here for a moment. Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood.
And without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. So the writer has been saying that's why in the Old Testament, blood was applied to nearly everything having to do with the worship of God, in the gathering of the people of God before him, the tabernacle, the tent, the sprinkling of blood on the mercy seats, on the arch of the covenant, in the holy of holies, as well as the sprinkling of blood on the book of the covenant God made with Israel and sprinkling of blood on all the people. As Moses flung it out upon the people, the blood was for purification, for cleansing from sin, and the cleansing was needed because wherever sinful man seeks to meet with a holy God, our sin is defiling, and we need to have our pollution as it were washed away before the eyes of God. And that earthly Old Testament tabernacle was the place where God met with his people.
It needed no cleansing on God's account. He's holy. But being the meeting place of unholy Israel with God, it required cleansing as did the people. And so the writer says it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
That Old tabernacle was a copy of the true reality of the true meeting place of God with man, which is in fact Jesus himself, the God-man. He is where heaven and earth meet. He is where God and man meet. And Jesus then ascended and now appears in the presence of God on our behalf, the writer says.
And so what's he talking about there? You know, when our son Joshua, as many of you know, was, well, he's in China now teaching when he was preparing to go, he needed all kinds of documents to authorize him to be there, authorized by the Chinese government. Those documents had to be presented in the US, some of you who have traveled internationally to places like China know this well. And those documents had to be brought to a regional consulate of China.
And it used to be that the consulate that serves our part of the country wasn't Houston until it got shut down by the United States government because of too much spiny happening out of it. And so the consulate Joshua needed was switched to the one in Washington, D.C. And we were all very new at this process. And for a while, as he was figuring things out, he thought he himself might need the fly to Washington and present himself with his documents because the consulate wouldn't take anything by mail.
But as it turns out, he could hire someone from an office conveniently just next door and conveniently run by Chinese nationals and a Chinese representative for a mere $400 would take Joshua's documents, mailed to them there, and present them personally at the consulate on his behalf. He could hire somebody to appear in the presence of the Chinese government on his behalf. And that all appropriate arrangements for Josh to be welcomed into China would take place. And that's what happened.
Well, it's a bit like that. The officer saying what Jesus does for us, he appears now in the true holy place, have it itself in the presence of our great and majestic and good holy God. And he appears there on our behalf. He clears the way for us to be welcomed there.
But of course the difference is you don't hire him to do that. You can't pay him to do that, but God himself loved us and sent his son and Jesus himself bore all the cost to bring us safely to God. And so we see the author saying, you know, there's Old Testament high priest appeared once a year before God at the mercy seat and they appeared alone. And yet not alone.
That Old Testament priest, well, he was the only one allowed ever to enter the most holy place. And he was always alone and yet not alone in this sense because the high priest was bearing on the breastplate he wore, the names of the twelve tribes of Israel representing all of them in the presence of God. Jesus, as it were, bears our names on his body, in his heart, in the nail prince of his hands that we might be welcomed there. So he's the pioneer.
We've heard that language before, who goes before us, behind the veil, through the curtain, into the presence of God. And he guarantees that we who are tied to him, we who are united to him, like a boat is tied to an anchor, our anchor has been flung behind the curtain. And we are certainly guaranteed access where he is. You don't have to clean up before you can come and be welcomed by God.
He cleans you up. You don't have to live in fear that the Holy God will keep you at arms like or shove you away because Jesus brings you close. You don't have to suspect judgment from the throne for through Jesus. It is the throne of grace.
And you don't have to live thinking God is against you when in fact the giving of Christ for you is proof that God himself is for you. That's the first thing I want you to see. The second is this, verses 25 and 26, Jesus appeared once for all to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Now notice where he begins in verse 25, nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for that he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world.
So what's he saying? Again, on the day of atonement once a year the old covenant high priest showed up with the blood of the ritual sacrifice. And every year that had to be repeated year after year after year and with a bit of hyperbole here I think he would have had to suffer repeatedly from the foundation of the world. Or certainly we might say since the first human sin.
But of course his appearance with the blood of a bowler goat never actually dealt with sin. It never really brought redemption. It never really secured forgiveness. It promised the availability of forgiveness.
It showed you how it was available by the death of a substitute. And it pointed forward to the true Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. But it's truly that land's blood that brings full and final forgiveness for any and all who ever have access to God to be with him forever. And so he appeared it says once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Which put away sin. It's a legal term. We encountered it back in chapter 7 verse 18 where we read that the law concerning the Levitical priesthood is quote set aside. That's the language because of its weakness and uselessness.
But the right of saying is that sin is abolished. It's declared legally invalid and to have no legal claim on all who trust in Christ. Because Christ puts in a way he bore it away. He bore our sins in his body on the tree and took them away once.
And for all, we often use this here a perfect indicative which signifies a present state that results from an action in the past. In the past he appeared and the present state of things is that he has put away sin. And that is a reality still is what he's saying. In other words our sins aren't coming back.
The box is not going to be opened. He's not dragging around a sack full of our sins looking for a chance to reach in and pull them out and throw them in our face. As well frankly sometimes we do with one another. Now he has put them away legally and validated them once and for all and forever.
And that is a present tense blessing of his once for all past finished work. And so it's a glorious Savior that we have. And then finally notice in verses 27 and 28. Jesus will appear a second time to save those who are waiting for him.
They have a better future because of this Savior. Notice verse 27 and just as it is appointed for man to die once and after that comes judgment. So Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many will appear a second time not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. So he has appeared to put away sin.
He now appears in the presence of God on our behalf and he will appear to save those who are waiting for him. He's dealt once for all with our sins. He now always lives to intercede for us and he will come again to give us the full enjoyment of our eternal salvation. So there's an already and not yet in the new covenant.
Already salvation is inaugurated. Yet salvation is not yet consummated. There's more to come. Notice also the author reminds us and sobering thought here of the inescapable which is that all of us will die.
We have an appointment with death unless we're alive when the Lord returns and yet we still also likewise will appear in judgment. He says, what happens after death? The writer says you can't avoid it. You can't change it.
God has settled it. It's an appointment every one of us will keep. What happens when we die? Are we disintegrated into nothing?
Do we simply cease to exist and disappear out of reality? No, that's not what he says. Are we absorbed into some sort of great cosmic impersonal sea like a drop of water that dribbles back into an ocean and simply disappears and loses all its individuality? No, that's not what happens.
Does your existence get dissolved into some kind of existence of uniformity that you raticates your personality so that you are no longer you? No, the writer says. Do you evolve into some kind of reincarnated higher version of yourself but only marginally and never perfectly so that you're always well you would hope climbing higher but always with the risk of devolving? No, the writer says.
Do you devolve into some kind of reincarnated lower version of yourself or works always worse unless you improve your performance on the next go around and get headed in the right direction? No, the writer says. No, he says first comes death and after that what? The judgment.
You still exist and you will face as we all will, judgment. We'll stand before God. The whole of our life will be accounted for every idle word we've ever spoken. Every action ever taken.
Every good thing neglected. Every twisted desire exposed. Every imagination of the thought of your heart laid bare before God. To be evaluated by him who knows it all and sees it all.
And either we will receive the justice due for our evil and that is that justice is God's wrath. Curse God's everlasting punishment or and here's the good news or our Savior will have already received that wrath and curse and death on our behalf and in our place and we will be saved fully. Finally, that's what's offered to you in the Lord Jesus. You'll not get a second chance to embrace him after you die today.
The scripture says is the day of salvation. You'll put your hope in him and repent of your sins. Receive him as your Savior and Lord. Trust in him and his death for your sins and what you'll receive from God is the gift of eternal life.
And so therefore you can face death. You can face even your own death with peace. Not that we have peace with death, but we can have peace in death. In 1854, Jonathan Edwards, the godly philosopher and pastor and theologian, he received a vaccination for smallpox in the earliest days of its treatment.
And no doubt he thought it was a wise precaution that would extend his life and as the head of a seminary and a well-known man, he was trying to set an example as he understood his duty. And as it happened, he contracted the deadly disease and quickly died. On his deathbed, he spoke to his young daughter who was there with him. He didn't question the sovereign will of God in all of this, but he said this dear Lucy, it seems to me to be the will of God that I must shortly leave you.
Therefore, give my kindest love to my dear wife and tell her that the uncommon union which has so long subsisted between us has been of such a nature as I trust is spiritual and therefore will continue forever. And I hope she will be supported under so great a trial and submit cheerfully to the will of God. Then he went on to commend his children to seek a father who will never leave you, a heavenly father. And he said then, or it said then when those at his bedside believe that he was unconscious and they expressed grief at what his absence would mean, they were surprised when he suddenly uttered a final sentence, trust in God and you need not fear.
Well, for her part, when the news reached Edward's wife, Sarah, she was suffering so much from rheumatism in her neck, she could barely hold a pen, but she wrote to her daughter Esther who had lost her own husband, Aaron Burr just months before and wrote this, what shall I say? A holy and good God has covered us with a dark cloud. Oh, that we may kiss the rod and lay our hands on our mouths. The Lord has done it.
He has made me adore his goodness that we had him, that is Jonathan, so long. But my God lives and he has my heart. Oh, what a legacy my husband and your father has left us. We are all given the God and there I am and love to be.
We can have peace in death, not peace with death, which is unnatural and not the way it ought to be. But the scripture says blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. And so the writer says we will all appear before the judgment seat. Jesus himself will one day appear a second time to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
So God's true children will have a real longing, a genuine yearning to see the end of sin and the end of death within us and around us. This is the reason why when Jesus returns he will return to people who are eagerly waiting for him. That is we are eagerly waiting for him because we are weary of the remaining sin within us and we are tired of the presence of death that doesn't belong to the children of man naturally but on account of judgment. Aren't you sick and tired of being sick and tired of the fallenness and the brokenness of this world?
The writer assures us this is not all that there is. We have great hope when he appears as well as Revelation 7 says and we will close with this. He who sits on the throne will shelter us with his presence. We shall hunger no more, thirst no more for the lamb in the midst of the throne will be our shepherd and he will guide us to springs of living water and God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.
Oh, put your hope in this great Savior. He will never let you down. Let's pray. Our Father thank you for the gift of your Son, Lord Jesus.
We know that we need you help our hearts to trust in you and to rest in you and to long for you to come. Oh come Lord Jesus and make all things new. We ask it in your name. Amen.
Amen.