The Book of Hebrews 9:23-28 Christ once offered, perpetually valid

Good morning. Today, we're going to continue exploring the book of Hebrews here. We are in the passage Randy just read for us here, Hebrews 9, 23 through 28. And the passage starts off like this. Therefore, it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. First of all, it says, it was necessary.

The earthly temple and tabernacle, and the tabernacle is what Moses addressed, because that's what they had out in the wilderness, had to be sprinkled with blood to ritually cleanse the tent or the building, and the furniture inside, and the altar, and the priests themselves even, sprinkled with blood.

And so one of the things we said last week was, old man Moses. Sprinkled blood BLOOD, right? With a blood blood here and a sprinkled blood there splattered blood more blood more blood everywhere old man Moses sprinkled blood BLOOD and It was necessary that he do that to ritually cleanse the temple. He did this in the tabernacle in the wilderness This was done later by the high priest with each new temple or restoration to service, because that's something else they did, if the temple went out of service for a time for whatever reason, putting it back into service was begun with the same sprinkling of blood process here. So, it was necessary to do that.

They sprinkled blood on the tabernacle, they sprinkled blood on the building itself, they sprinkled blood on the altar out front, they sprinkled blood Inside, on all the different articles inside the temple, they sprinkled blood. They went to the candelabra, the menorah, and the table of sacred bread, and sprinkled blood there. The altar of incense, they sprinkled blood on that. And then to the Ark of the Covenant, they sprinkled blood on that. Unlike this picture here, it was not all clean when they got through all the sprinkling.

And so that's what they did with the tabernacle, that's what they did with the temple, that's even what they did with the priests themselves, including Aaron from the very beginning. So it was necessary. But these things on earth were all copies of the real tabernacle in heaven. These things on earth, although they were told to do it, they were copies of the real thing. So why did the heavenly tabernacle need to be cleansed? Why do that? I mean after all that's heaven, right? Everything's perfect there.

Well, let's take a look at that The heavenly tabernacle needed to be cleansed Because heaven was a place of rebellion Yes, heaven was a place of rebellion a third of the angels that's revealed in Revelation chapter 12 rebelled with Satan and were ejected from heaven and see with human beings what happens is human beings are born and they're born in sin because Adam sinned and so human beings come along you know one at a time sometimes more than once you have multiple births but come along one at a time and over time are created whereas the angels were all created at once from any indication that we have They the ones that fell a third of them all fell at once and were Ejected from heaven. Okay, so heaven is a place of rebellion It's one reason why there's going to be a new heavens and a new earth not just a new earth But a new heavens because it's a place of rebellion. So it had to be cleansed from that Satan has ongoing access to heaven. That's not always going to be the case During the coming millennial kingdom. He will be bound. Okay But he has access to heaven to ask permission, okay, two things, ask permission, which he has to do, and to make accusations.

Who does he make accusations against? You and me, right? Constantly accusing us. Here is Jesus speaking to Simon Peter. He says, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission. Interesting, demanded permission. He goes in and demands, but he has to ask permission, right? Permission to sift you like wheat. And then he assures Peter then, but I have prayed for you.

This is all going to turn out okay. But just another indication, Satan has to ask permission for what he's doing and he also He also makes accusations. This is something that's important, I think, for believers to understand, that Satan just doesn't run willy-nilly and do whatever he wants.

He doesn't just have control and God throws up his hands and says, what am I going to do? That isn't the way things work. Satan can't do anything without permission. He is the opposite of God. He's opposed to God, but he is not all-knowing. He is not all-powerful. He is not present everywhere. So he is opposite, but not equal to God.

Now, why did the heavenly tabernacle need to be cleansed? Christ represents us there. who are pure in position, but not always in our condition. So Satan makes an accusation, and does he have accusations that have some basis? Yes. However, the accusation doesn't stick, because Christ paid the price. And we are in Him in our position.

So, we have in here, in this set of verses, better sacrifices. And we might ask the question, why plural? Christ was one single sacrifice who offered himself just one time. And this passage will tell us that he died only once. And he'll, matter of fact, be rather emphatic about that. So why does this verse use a plural, sacrifices?

Hmm. Oh, I guess I better tell you. Okay. It's because Christ's death fulfills what all the many animal sacrifices of the law could never do once for all. So all those many sacrifices demanded something better. Okay? Demanded something better. We could translate it this way. But the heavenly things themselves were better than these sacrifices. I think that would clarify it. Now let's look at 924. For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself. So heaven has the reality, that is the true and real tabernacle. And the one down here that the Jews had was a copy. It says, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Now, there's a very big word in here that's little.

It's now. Is Christ appearing for us now? Yes. I think that's key for us. It wasn't just something He did and He's off doing something else. Right now, He is appearing in the heavenly tabernacle on our behalf. He's there for us right now. And I think that's key as we look at this verse. Now to appear in the presence of God for us. He is there ministering in this high priestly role for us right now. So Satan has access to make accusation. It doesn't stick. Christ says, wait a minute, I covered that. I covered that. That's taken care of. This believer that you're accusing is in me. Accusation doesn't stick.

So we have in here the real and true in the heavens, and the copy and shadow on earth. The tabernacle and the temples that followed, and there have been two, and there will be two more. There will be two more. The tabernacles and the temples that followed, two temples, were all made by human hands, served by mortal priests who lived and died, who themselves needed repeated sacrifices for sin for themselves. yet never got it done for good. You keep doing this, and you keep doing it, and you keep doing it, but it never really gets it done, because you're going to do it again, and again, and again next year. And another priest will come along, and he'll do it again, and again, and again.

These were a copy and a shadow of the real and true tabernacle in the heavenlies, where Christ did enter and remains there now, now representing us before God. It is there where He lives to represent us before the Father, right now, for you and for me. In Hebrews 9, 24 and 25, for Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself. Now to appear in the presence of God for us, Nor was it that he would offer himself often as the high priest enters the holy place year after year with blood that is not his own.

There's a supplemental handout on the annual Feast of Israel that's available in the cabinet to the right as you exit the room. Our key point here today, though, is to just look at this. This is the Jewish calendar, and you notice it's a circle. Why? Because it keeps going around in circles, and you do it year after year after year. Their months don't correspond to ours, and as a matter of fact, we handle the adjustment in time with a leap year. They handled it from time to time, throwing in an extra month, right?

And so that's why you find the Jewish calendar and our calendar shifting around by practically a month from time to time. But what we see here is starting at the beginning of the Jewish New Year, the first feast was Passover, then unleavened bread and then firstfruits during that time. weeks, or Pentecost, that's the day of Pentecost recorded in Acts chapter 2, and then you have the Feast of Trumpets, and then the Feast of Atonement, that's the one that he's talking about here where the high priest enters in once a year, and he can only go in on that day, into the Holy of Holies. So that's what he's talking about, the annual or year-after-year event, the entering of the High Priest into the Holy of Holies. So the Law of Moses required that the High Priest go into the tabernacle or the temple once a year and only on that day to offer up the blood of sacrifice once for himself, because remember he himself had sins to deal with, and then for all of the Jews.

That's the way it was done. Unlike the high priest, Christ offered up himself as both priest and sacrifice. When Christ died on the cross, people standing there thought, well, he's this victim. You know, get yourself down if you're the son of God. No, he is the son of God, and that's why he's up there. He is the son of God, that's why he's up there, and as he's doing that, he is both priest and sacrifice at the same time. as a once-for-all sacrifice for all mankind of all time. Isn't it amazing how people thought he was this victim that couldn't come down from the cross and he was stuck up there? No, he put himself there intentionally because he loved us. And he died for the sins of all mankind for all time, from Adam to the last person that's going to be born on this planet. then entering the real and true temple and tabernacle once.

In Hebrews 9.26 it says, otherwise he would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world but now once at the consummation of the ages he has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. If Christ had been like the high priest of Israel, he would have had to come to suffer and die again and again and again and again.

Are you back here again? Yeah, yeah. Again and again and again. From the very beginning of the world up to the end of it. Coming every year to die for the sins, right? If that's what he was doing, coming like the high priest of Israel, that's what he would have had to done. Sacrifice himself again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again. But, after the various ages of time, Christ came to deal with the sin issue once and for all by offering up himself as the once and final sacrifice for all the sins of all of humanity.

This once, the Greek is hapax, we don't get real greeky geeky here, but this is a simple enough word and one that gets used repeatedly, not only in the book of Hebrews, but three times in this passage. Verses 26, 27, and 28 all include this word. Once and for all. Once done, perpetually valid. Once done, forever effective. This once in Hebrews 9, 26-28 shows up in verse 26, now once at the consummation of the ages, in verse 27, and as much as it is appointed for man to die once, and after this comes judgment, and then so Christ also having been offered once to bear the sins of many. Same word. Once done, perpetually valid.

Perpetually effective that's the the word that is used repeatedly here, and we'll continue to see it on into chapter 12 One of the key points and this is very important Christ did not come to earth to just live a good life I Know a man who when presented with the gospel said oh no no no Jesus came just to live a good life And it'd be a good example for us. No hey I That's not what the Bible says. That's not what Jesus said.

He kept telling the disciples repeatedly, I'm going to suffer and die at the hands of the Gentiles. I'm going to be buried and I'm going to rise up on the third day. And he told them that again and again and again. And all four Gospels record that. That's what he came for. Even as Joseph was told in a dream about Jesus to be born of Mary, he was told He will save his people from sins. He wasn't even born yet, and that message was coming across. When Simeon held Jesus as an infant, he talked about, to Mary, a sword will pierce your soul.

He came to die, not just to live a good life as an example for us to emulate. God is not when we get before him, God is not going to say, how well did you imitate Christ? That will not be the criteria. The book of life is not filled with the names of those who tried to imitate Christ. It will be filled with the names of those who believe that Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose again. That's the criteria.

We can point to a number of important purposes in Christ's coming, and beyond just being crucified but the most critical purpose which Christ came for was to die on the cross and be raised on the third day without that everything else is hopeless without that everything else is hopeless Christ did not come to live a good life to be an example for you and for me to try to follow here's Hebrews 9.27 and as much as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes judgment. There are medical accounts of people who have died medically more than once, sometimes multiple times, and some have even come back to tell what they saw and heard on the other side. And now, those are rather subjective accounts, and so you can't count on them, you know, significantly. However, there are accounts, there's a book by Dr. Maurice Rawlings, who was not a believer when he had a patient come screaming out of death. And he's, pray for me! Screaming!

He says, I've seen the fires of hell. this guy's experience, that was one of the things that turned him to actually become a believer. So there are accounts of that, of people dying and coming back. Dwight Moody was one, a believer, who told his son, and his son wrote about it, he says, I've been to the gates of heaven, and now here I am back. So there are experiences like that.

Again, those don't hold the same weight as scripture, but there are such accounts. What this verse is saying, though, is that each human being, even though people can talk about going somewhere and coming back, each human being does have a final time of passing from this life physically, except for those who are raptured alive, and then judgment will follow. Judgment will follow of some kind. That's what this verse is telling us.

There will be a once and final time when each of us will pass from this life. Guess what? We're not going to hang around here forever. Imagine talking to somebody. How long have you lived here in Denver? Oh, about 600 years. No, you're not going to hear that, are you?

There are different judgments for different people. So when we look at the whole of God's Word, we get that picture. We see that there are different judgments for different people and at different times. We won't go into all that detail right now, but we've made available another supplement here which provides lots of detail on those kinds of things if you'd like to check that out and investigate it. The reality is we in the church will be judged separately from any others. We in the body of Christ from the time of Acts chapter 2 until the rapture will be judged separately from all others.

And our judgment will not be a judgment of punishment, but a judgment of how much can I reward you. How much can I reward you? So, at any rate, you're free to take one of those supplemental handouts and investigate that if you'd like. For us in the body of Christ, the judgment will be about what is eternally rewardable. I know sometimes believers will read about these other judgments and sometimes get terrified. Oh no! You ever hear about what you've done in secret will be shouted from the housetops? And worry about that? Oh no!

But for us in the body of Christ, the judgment will be, what can I reward you for? And guess what? You know how Christ will be motivated? He will be motivated to want to reward us to the maximum. At the end of Revelation, he says, I'm coming, and my reward is with me. My reward is with me. Here are, and you have it on page 2, the listing of five crowns that the Bible talks specifically about, and there's one or more passages that backs that up, and three rewards. Now, the crowns are victor's crowns, not diadem crowns like royalty. So, but scripture is very clear.

There is a victor's crown, 1 Corinthians 9.25. There is a church founder's crown. So, for example, the Apostle Paul goes out and, you know, founds various churches. That's rewardable.

1 Thessalonians 2.19 and 20 talks about that. There is a rapture lover's crown. That is a, imagine just for looking for the Lord's coming and being eager for His coming. You get a crown for that. You get rewarded forever for looking for that moment when He comes. Isn't that neat? That's pretty cool. You get rewarded forever for looking for that moment when He comes.

There's an elder's crown for service. But also, one other thing, it's not just where you're an elder you get a crown. Because elders must give an account. We'll see that later in Hebrews. There is a trial crown. Go through a tough time? There's a crown for that. Going faithfully through a trial? There's a crown for that. We go through different kinds of trials and of different durations, but there's a crown that lasts forever for going faithfully through a trial.

There are three rewards, a solid foundation reward, a reward for establishing and maintaining a solid biblically based foundation. There is a voluntary service reward and an inheritance reward. The people in the Colossians elected will get there. Now, is it possible that there are other crowns and rewards?

Yeah, it could be, but these are the ones that are revealed and scripture is consistent For us in the body of Christ, it's not a matter of our trembling and shaking and worrying, oh boy, that judgment day, I wonder how it's going to turn out. What is going to turn out is Christ saying, how much can I reward you? That's what he's going to be doing. And whatever is unrewardable will just simply be burned away.

You won't be burned away, but what we did and didn't do will be. Here are a couple of pictures of what those crowns look like from biblical times. And they were used initially like in the Greek athletic games. And so this would be the kind of crown, not the royalty kind of crown that many of us might think of.

Revelation 4.10 says that these crowns will be laid repeatedly as a capacity to glorify the Lord. So what does this mean? All of us will worship the Lord when we pass through into the presence of the Lord. All of us will worship the Lord to a hundred percent of our capacity. But we will have different capacities based on the crowns.

Now Hebrews 9.27 addresses another issue. This verse deals truthfully with at least two serious errors. that the world and our own culture wrestle with. Both Buddhism and Hinduism teach that people are reincarnated, that you're done with this life and then the principle of karma then is used to judge how you are then reincarnated in the next life. And by the way, karma is absolutely graceless. No grace. Karma is 100% legal. No grace.

And so they have this teaching of reincarnation. You get to go in the next life and the next life. And karma is the principle of judgment as to how you're reincarnated. But you're going to be reincarnated many, many, many, many times. And so just count on it. That's the way it's going to be.

This verse says otherwise, and therefore Buddhism and Hinduism mislead people greatly on one of the most important points that they could ever consider. And that is, you're not going to go back into a life like this. There's a point when a man wants to die, that once and final time.

And Buddhism and Hinduism also err about Christ. The teaching among Hinduism and Buddhism is that Christ is one sent from God who ultimately is impersonal. And Christ is like an avatar, something of that sort, and just one of the many that are sent. What people decide about Christ is the deciding factor for all eternity.

Another huge problem that this verse addresses. Right now, we're having a problem in the U.S. Someone will shoot one or more people, and then when they're all done, what do they do? They shoot themselves, thinking the problem's all over. Guess what? Their problem's just started, and now they can't fix it. But we've got an entire culture We've got an entire culture of people who have been trained up with the idea that people are just highly evolved ape-like creatures and that the material realm is all there is. And so when they put a bullet in their head, they think they're through. No, they're not through.

It's not just the end of life, it's the beginning of forever. It's the beginning of forever. Our culture, by teaching the idea that once you're done with this life you're through, has created a huge problem. And so this is a biggie, and it's not going to get fixed anytime soon. Because we're teaching people that this life is all there is. We're teaching people that when you end life here, you're done. The pain is over. The anger and all the discomfort and everything else is over. And the reality is, no, it just began. And there's no fixing it. So we've got a huge problem that this verse addresses by teaching the truth. By teaching the truth.

The point of the man wants to die, no matter how that happens, even if the person puts a bullet in their head. And after that, a judgment. I would say for most of those who have this perspective, that judgment is not going to be very good. And the outcome isn't going to be good. and as much as it appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.

In verse 28, so Christ also having been offered once to bear the sins of many will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin to those who eagerly await Him. The Greek here literally says this, so the Christ that is the Messiah also having been offered once to bear the sins of the many So, human beings get one time through this life, and after that comes judgment, but no retries, no second chances. Anybody say, if I could do it all over again? Do you get to do it all over again? No. It doesn't happen. There's no retries here, and there's no second chances there.

Appointed unto man once to die, and after that, the judgment. Similarly, Christ came once to die for us, but once and never again, though he will come again for a very different purpose. And what this verse is telling us is Christ will come for us. We talk about the second coming, that's when Christ comes with us to earth. This is his coming for us, which is different. Christ will come for us in an event that is known as the rapture.

That's the Latin term. The Greek term in the Bible, brought out in 1 Thessalonians, is harpazo. So the word rapture, people will say, well, it's not in the Bible. Yes, it is. The Greek term is harpazo, caught up. 1 Thessalonians 4, 13-18, and we won't go into the detail on that, but it's a great explanation of the rapture when church saints will be taken up.

And we are to comfort one another with these words, forever we will be with the Lord. Forever we'll be with the Lord. All church saints will be raptured to be taken to be with the Lord forever. Now, let me make this point clear. Some people say, boy, I sure hope I'm raptured. If you're a believer today, if you're a believer, you will be raptured. Some will be raptured alive. Others will be raptured from the grave. But all believers in the body of Christ will be raptured.

All of us. All of us. I think that's something that we can comfort one another with, and it's something that I really take joy in, in being able to share. If there's a graveside service for a believer, I tell them, look, you see all this? This is great that we're doing this, and this is respectful, and it's the right way to handle things, but just realize this is all temporary. Everything we're doing, burying the body and all that, that's all temporary. The Lord's going to change all this. And we don't know how temporary it is. Matter of fact, I hope it happens today, before we get this body buried.

All church saints will be raptured to be taken with the Lord forever. Forever to be with the Lord, as Paul puts it. There is an eternal crown for those who love His appearing. That's the rapture lover's crown. We saw in the chart there of rewards and crowns. There is an eternal crown for those who love His appearing. There is a crown that lasts forever for those who love the moment that He comes for us, and eagerly await for His coming for us to be with Him. Christ said this to the disciples in John 14, He said, Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.

In my father's house are many dwelling places. And if it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. So here he is with the disciples. He is doing what we will do here shortly. And he is having the last supper and also introducing what we call the Lord's table to them. And he is telling them these words, in my father's house are many dwelling places.

If it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. Even in the words that we use for the Lord's table, we quote a passage out of 1 Corinthians. And how does that passage end? Until he comes.

Until he comes even our taking the Lord's table is an anticipation of his coming So let's take a minute and and Thank the Lord for what he has done. Thank you. Thank him for what he's revealed to us here in these truths and Thank him for the blessed. Hope that we have in his coming Lord we do give you thanks as we see what you have done once for all and and where you have entered once for all, and how you represent us before the Father even now. And Lord, we have this blessed hope that one day you will come for us, and that you will take us to be with you where you are. And we look forward to that day. And we even look forward eagerly for that crown, the capacity to glorify you, for looking forward to that day and we do hope it's this day. We just pray in Jesus name, Amen.