If we may turn to the passage that we read in Hebrews and chapter nine, the end of the chapter. I won't read those verses again, but we're looking at those verses both this morning and God willing this evening, verses 24 to 28. Now the purpose of this epistle is indeed to minister to a people. We're not told actually exactly where they're located, but these are Hebrew Christians and they have become a bit weary in the Christian life. In fact, some of them are really wondering whether to drop out. and they've lost the cutting edge. There's a lethargy that has sort of come over them. And as that is just almost eating into the vitality of their spiritual life and witness, this letter comes to them. And it's a powerful letter. And it's across in the framework to which they're accustomed. There's no more precious part of the New Testament that so brings out for us the great truths of the Old Testament and applies them in the glory of New Testament light. And so we see how the epistle begins. God, who at various times and in different ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his Son. And so the Son and God speaking through Christ is so central to this epistle. And in a way, we can almost sum up the preciousness and the significance and the importance of the Lord Jesus Christ to these believers and to all believers. In a particular word, it's a verb, it's the verb to appear. And it occurs three times in the passage that we read at the end of chapter nine. It occurs in the past tense, in the present tense, and in the future tense. And we're hoping to look at that today. And first of all, in the past tense, this is telling us of something that has happened, an appearance that has taken place. It's the appearance, of course, of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's there in verse 26, where it says, but now, once, At the end of the ages, he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. So, we're going to look first of all at this past tense of the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's an event. It's happened. It is actually not only in the past tense, but it's in what we might call the perfect tense, which means that it's not just telling us about a historical event, something that has happened, but an event that has happened that has a bearing on all that follows on. And of course, that is so true, isn't it, of this great occasion, the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's just notice a few things about what is said about this appearing, this in the past tense in verse 26. Now once at the end of the ages he has appeared. It's of course referring to that decisive moment of history. We divide it, don't we, between BC and AD. It's obviously referring to the coming of the Lord Jesus, what we would call the incarnation, conception of baby Jesus in the womb of Mary, and then his birth nine months later there at Bethlehem. And his incarnation, there's a great incarnation text in 1 Timothy 3.16 that tells us, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh. And the word that's in the old version, manifested, is the same as we have in this verse 26, appeared. He was manifested in the flesh. He's appeared. So it's referring to that great moment when Christ comes from the realms of glory where he's always been, and he steps onto the stage of human history. He comes in a human form, that to his eternal godhood he adds manhood. And that's what happened there in the incarnation. It's described here in this verse now once at the end of the ages. Now we might think, well, that's surely taking us into the future. But in New Testament terminology, the end of the ages, the last times, are these times in which we're now living. It's the period between the first and second advents of the Lord Jesus. They're distinguished as the last times, or the end times. And so, when it says now, once at the end of the ages, of course it's referring to the inauguration of this great final period. We're still in it. It was inaugurated then when the Lord Jesus came. We notice that, too, that the word appearance, he appeared. Now that has a very strong implication, doesn't it? It's suggesting, of course, that he's appeared, but he already was. Of course, that's a great basic foundational truth, isn't it? That he didn't begin when he was born. and conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He's always been, from all eternity, and from those realms of eternity, he has appeared, as I say, he added to his godhood, manhood. So, we see these features that surround this great word, he has appeared. It implies his pre-existence. But, our text goes on to tell us the purpose of that appearance. And it is very clear, isn't it? Very simple, very straightforward. He's appeared. How does this writer, how does he put it in a word? What is the purpose of this appearance? He appeared to put away sin. That's the purpose, to put away sin. Oh, how loathsome is sin. How sin is that which is so odious in the sight of God. He is of purer eyes than to behold it. He cannot tolerate it. If any was to enter heaven in their sin, If we were to go to heaven as we are by nature, it would no longer be heaven. That's an impossibility. He cannot abide sin. It's so terrible in his eyes, loathsome. And you know, we have got accustomed, haven't we, to a much sort of more casual, lighter view of it. And the fact is that we must always Notice what the scripture says about how terrible a thing is sin. It's sin which has its origin in the devil and his great purpose is to pursue and to increase it and to fill our lives with it. It's sin which brings us under the divine curse. It's sin which will take all unclean sinners to hell itself. Sin is a terrible thing. The Puritans were very good at being soul physicians and they were so clear about the odiousness of sin. Let me quote to you one of them, George Swinnock. He says, we take the size of sin too low and short and wrong when we measure it by the wrong it does to ourselves or our families or our neighbors or the community wherein we live. Rather, we must consider the wrong it does to this great, this glorious, this incomparable God. This is the venom, the malignity of sin, that it is opposite and contrary, offensive and injurious to the incomparable God. This is what should humble us most for our sins. This was the weight that pressed David down most in Psalm 51.4. The head of the arrow that pierced his heart was this. against Thee and Thee only have I sinned. Obviously others were the casualties of his sin, very much so, but what really crushed him was against Thee and Thee only. And we see that. And Srinik is so sort of spot on, isn't he? He said, we don't measure sin by its effects on us, our way of life, or how it affects the community. Perhaps we could legislate to sort of do away with what God regards as sin. And that's what they do, and have referendums about it. But we see that it's what sin is in the eyes of God that matters. And then, just to quote another Puritan, Ralph Venning, he published a book in 1669, and he entitled that book, The Plague of Plagues. Now, the significance of that was, three years earlier, was it, or four years earlier, there'd been that great plague in London, and he'd ministered, he was ministering there, and amazingly, he had survived it, because he was ministering amongst these people who were just dying like flies. and it just wiped out so many, many thousands of people in that plague. And he, you see, reflecting on all that he'd experienced, he said he wrote about the plague of plagues, which of course is sin, and he's in no doubt about that. Well, I don't know if you just recall the words that we were singing at the beginning of early on in the service, the beginning, Isaac Watts, and he's looking at the believer having finished his course and now in heaven, and he's just reflecting upon his new condition, and he says, sin, my worst enemy before, that's what sin is in this word, my worst enemy before, shall vex my eyes and ears no more. How perceptive that is. What an intake through the eyes and through the ears. Dexam no more, now in glory. But here, it's our worst enemy, according to Watts. So we see how terrible it is. And of course, God doesn't change his view. He doesn't sort of say, well, in the 21st century, my view of sin is somewhat different from earlier centuries. No, he's always the same. And what an impossible, an impossible thing it is to put it away, to get rid of it. We can't do it. Remember how Toplady puts it in memorable words, you know, not the labors of my hands can fulfill thy laws demands. Could my zeal, no respite, no, could my tears forever flow, all for sin could not attain. Then he puts his finger on it, thou must save, thou alone. We can't get rid of it. There's no labours, no efforts that can somehow eradicate it. And of course the terrible and the solemn thing is that if we leave this world still in our sins, it's the one thing we do take with us. We can't take the things that so absorb our lives, can we? But one thing we do take is the record. of our sin, and then to be answered for eternally. Oh, it's a solemn, solemn thing, isn't it? But here is one who has come, and the purpose of his coming, says the Word of God, is to put away sin, to eradicate it. I love that lovely story of Andrew Bonar who was visiting a lady in Glasgow in his parish and she was an annihilationist. In other words, she believed that when you died, that was it. Nothing beyond. You lived your life and then that's it. And she was very strong in these views and very fulsome in telling Bonar and really, A lesser man might have said, well, I can't convince her, and she was so adamant about it. But he kept going to see her, and she was ill, terminally ill, but he kept going. And she kept, almost to the end, affirming this fact that, well, when I die, that's it, annihilation. And he said, oh, he said, if only you will trust in my savior, Yes, there will be annihilation. Your sins will be annihilated. And that's the annihilation. It is possible only by coming to Christ. The purpose of His appearing, to put away sin. I say, it's so difficult, so hard, so impossible. How could He do it? Well, our text tells us, by the sacrifice of Himself. By the sacrifice of Himself. And that, of course, points us to Calvary. That's what he did upon that cross. Sacrifice, of course, was a very familiar word to these Hebrew Christians. They had grown up in the context of Old Testament, the sacrificial system. And, of course, who offered the sacrifice? Who was the sacrificer? The priest, the high priest. And of course, as Professor John Murray puts it, the refrain of this Hebrew epistle is the high priesthood of Christ. So you see, by reminding us here so powerfully that he put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, he's there pointing to this great aspect of Christ's work. Yes, he's our prophet, he's our king, but he's our priest. who sacrificed, that he's not only offering the sacrifice, but he is the sacrifice himself. And just one other thing here before we move on, this word wants, it appears so many times in this passage, but now wants, at the end of the ages, he has appeared to put away sin. And the previous verse has been saying that the Old Testament High Priest, he went into the Holy of Holies with the blood, the blood of the sacrifice. But of course, he had to do it the next year, and the next year it had to be repeated again and again. But this sacrifice is so adequate, so complete, so perfect, that it needs no repetition. It couldn't be repeated, could it? Christ couldn't come and die again. But it doesn't need to be repeated because it's an altogether perfect sacrifice. So it's a great truth, isn't it, that he has appeared and we rejoice in that appearance. Oh, that we all might have an interest in that which he did in his appearing. He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Put away your sin. or that we might truly know and be assured of that this morning. But just before we move to our second point, and perhaps more briefly, just another little sort of interlude to mention our reading, which might have seemed a bit obscure there in Exodus 37 and 38, but There's so much detail given to us in the book of Exodus. Interesting that when God describes the creation of the universe, he does it in a couple of chapters. But when he comes to describe what has to be done for the worship of himself, by his people. It's not a chapter, not a few verses, it's chapters in the book of Exodus, right, the latter part of it. As Moses was given these instructions on the mount during that time when he communed with the Lord, and he came down, remember he brought the Ten Commandments, but then he also brought all these instructions, and he was, the tabernacle was to be patterned upon heaven itself, as it were. And you remember all the details, all the details that we read in Exodus, every measurement and every material that was to be used. And it was a remarkable place, wasn't it? That tabernacle that was set up. And then of course it was replicated in the temple a little bit later on when Solomon built the temple. But briefly, you remember it was an enclosure. And within that enclosure that cut it off from the surrounding world, there was the holy place. And then at the end of the holy place, there was a great curtain that curtained off the holy of holies. And behind that curtain, there was the altar, the mercy seat, and the ark itself, you remember. and all the details about its construction were given. The high priest went in there once a year, didn't he? No one else could go in, only the high priest. And only as he took the blood of the sacrifice could he come to that place. But what we were reading was about two altars. The two altars that belonged to this whole area. Not one altar, but two. And we read of, well we'll take the second one first, the one in chapter 38, we read of the bronze altar. It was altogether made of bronze, well it was made of wood rather, but overlaid with bronze. And remember that that altar, it was quite large, we were given its dimensions, and it was outside the holy place because it was the altar on which the sacrifice was offered. The animal, the bullock or the kid, the lamb was killed and then it was offered on that altar and the fire burnt it up. And then the priests who had conducted that, they then went into the holy place and there was very sparse furnishings there but right up, as near to the holy of holies as you could get, right up against the curtain, was another altar, and it was made also of wood, acacia wood, but it was overlaid in pure gold. It was much smaller. And no, it wasn't an altar that animals were sacrificed on. They were on the bronze altar. But this was a much smaller altar, and it had the incense on it. And the flame, the fire that lit, that burnt on the altar of sacrifice, some of that fire was taken, and the incense, as it touched the fire, it filled the air with all the perfume of the incense. Now, of course, you may say, well, we're not really into all this incense sort of stuff, but you see, incense is something quite interesting in scripture. If we'd sung another psalm, we'd have been singing from Psalm 141. I'll just read a verse of it. Lord, I cry out to you, make haste to me, give ear to my voice when I cry out to you. Let my prayer be set before you as incense. And so you see, biblically, incense is a visual aid of prayer. And you see that is the great ministry of the priest in the Old Testament. A two-fold ministry of offering sacrifice and of praying. Or technically the word atonement and intercession. That was his great ministry. And having offered on the bronze altar, and that bronze altar points us to Calvary. He then came with his censer and took incense from the Golden Altar. And that typified this other aspect of his high priestly ministry of prayer. And of course, if the Bronze Altar points us to Calvary, the Golden Altar points us to the work of Christ, to his intercession. Let me read to you from this short catechism, question 25. How does Christ execute the office of a priest? Answer, Christ executed the office of a priest in his once offering up of himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice and reconcile us to God and in making continual intercession for us. And that leads us into our second use of the verb appear in the present tense. And it's there in verse 24. For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, this place that Moses made there in the wilderness, he's not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but he's entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. So what is Christ? The one who once appeared, to put away sin, and he did it there on Calvary's cross. Third day, he rose again. 40 days later, he ascended up on high, and there, at God's right hand, there he is. And what is he doing? Well, he's there now, at this very moment, as we praise and worship him, along with the Father and the Spirit, and he's there, and what is he doing? He's praying for us, he's interceding for us. He is able, Hebrews 7, 25, he is able to save to the uttermost all who come to God through him because he ever lives to make intercession for us. That's what he's doing now. And so we rejoice in that and you know how There are two portions of scripture that are described as pattern prayers. Sermon on the Mount, a pattern for our praying, the Lord's Prayer, you know it well. But in John 17, we have another pattern prayer, not a pattern of our praying, but a pattern of his praying. Remember what he says, I'm not praying for the world, I'm praying for those that you've given me. He prays for his disciples, then at the end of the prayer he prays for those who are going to believe through their word, such as us. And that's what he's doing now. And it's a lovely prayer, isn't it? A prayer that has these great petitions. And you know, how appropriate as we've been so reminded in the promotion of our dear brother to glory. Think of that final petition of our Lord's, of John 17, of the Lord's Prayer. Remember it's in verse 24. And I don't like all these versions. Father, I want, or Father, I desire. Go back to the authorised. Father, I will, that those whom you've given me be with me. That's what heaven is, with Christ. Where I am, which is far better, isn't it? That they may behold my glory. And that's his prayer. And that's his praying will be brought about, won't it? No question that it won't happen. That's why we can't pray like that. We can't pray, I will. We ask for things, don't we? But he can pray because of who he is. I will that those whom you've given me be with me where I am. So that's what he's doing now, this present ministry. And it's a lovely ministry, an illustration of it is in Luke 22, I won't turn to it, our time is gone really, but in Luke 22, Jesus, just not long before he left this world, a little encounter there with Simon Peter. And he says to Simon, These words, solemn words, Simon, Simon repeats it. Satan has desired to have you, that he might sift you as wheat. You know, that's an insidious thing, isn't it? Satan had lost Peter. Think of the lovely testimony he'd made at Caesarea Philippi. Satan had lost Peter, but he did his utmost to get him back. And Jesus says, you see, Jesus sees things that we don't. Just as poor old Job didn't realize what was happening, but we know how Satan had a, his fingerprints are all over, aren't they, what took place in the first two chapters of Job. And similarly, Peter doesn't perhaps realize this. We maybe don't realize it, but Jesus says, Satan, his desire to have you, that he might sift you as wheat. How can he withstand that? But then the next part, but he says, I have prayed for you. He didn't pray that Satan would be vanquished and you won't have any problems, it'll all be easy going, there'll be no difficulties. No, he didn't say that. Indeed, Satan still was at work and Peter did deny Jesus three times, didn't he? Despite of his protestations that he would never do that, he did. But what Jesus said, I've prayed for you that your faith fail not. And when you are turned back, strengthen your brethren. And you know, it's a lovely thing, isn't it? And you think of all the ensuing ministry of Peter, and what a blessing it was to the people of his time, and through his letters to us. And in a sense, you can root it back to the intercessory work of Christ, because that's a lovely illustration of it. I have prayed for you. Not that you'll have a smooth passage. I mean, he did no trials, but I've prayed for you that your faith fail not, and it didn't. So that's a lovely illustration of it, of his intercessory ministry. But you know, there's even more to it. I'll just quickly turn to Revelation 8. In Revelation 8 verse 3, Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. This is in heaven, incidentally. And he was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascended before God from the angel's hand. And there you see, there's an altar there, there's incense there. And the incense is added to the prayers of the saints. You know, so much of what we've done last week doesn't count for anything, does it? But when you've prayed, that does count, eternally. The prayers of the saints, and there they are. And if I forbear your patience, let me quote two people. One is a man called James Devon, and this is what he says. What an encouragement to pray and what comfort in praying that our blessed mediator receiveth the prayer and putteth it in his censer. Putteth incense with it that it ascendeth not alone but in his name and by virtue of his righteousness. Many poor earthly feckless prayers are savoury to God on this account. It's a matter of consolation in praying that however our prayers be not much worth, yet Christ's incense makes them savory. There is here an excellent joining together between the saints praying and Christ's interceding. God has knit them together. That's amazing, isn't it? And then listen to John Owen. On this golden altar, I'll read another quote. The Lord Jesus Christ, the great high priest, doth represent and render acceptable unto God the worship of the church here below, as it is expressed in Revelation chapter eight, verses three and four, the prayers of all the saints. It's an expression, isn't it? It's an expression that covers the whole worship of the church. It is the incense of the intercession of Christ alone that gives our worship acceptance with God. Without this, none of our prayers, our praises or thanksgivings would ever have access into the presence of God and to the throne of grace. Well, there's more, but I won't. But you see, this intercessory ministry of Christ is covering our prayers, our praises, our worship, and he is taking it, and he's making our stuttering, stammering tongues and what they express, he's making it in the quaint old language of a former day, savoury in the presence of God. That's a great ministry, isn't it? Well, our final illustration, and it's just from a biblical one, it's from Mark chapter eight, and quickly it's this. Jesus had just fed the 5,000. Remember that situation? They were on the mountain, away from any population because he'd had to feed them. They were fainting. And he fed them. And then, as he was about to send them away, he told his disciples to get into the boat and to go to the other side. Meanwhile, as they set off, he dispersed all the crowds. And then when he'd done that, he went up the mountain to pray. And I don't know how long it would have taken those, but they were experienced sailors, weren't they? But it turns out that in the third watch of the night, probably, I don't know, three o'clock in the morning or something like that, There they are. They haven't got the other side. They're in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, and the wind is against them, and it's blowing and blustering, and they're not making any headway. In fact, they take the sail down, they're rowing. They're rowing, but they're not getting anywhere. And they're cold, and it's dark, and they're really in quite a mess. But it's lovely the way that Mark records it. This is what he says. Then he saw them. Well, how could he see them? It'd probably be dark. And he's miles away from the top of the mountain, but he saw them. He saw them, straining at rowing for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night, he came to them. And it's a lovely little account, isn't it? But someone in the Victorian era, when they did this sort of thing, painted a picture of this scene. And it's a graphic picture. because there in the center is the waves, the storm, and this boat tossed about, and these men, cold and weary and exhausted, and they're not getting anywhere. There they are, just so typifying the turmoil of this life. And then you see the outline of a mountain, and there's just a, pinprick of light, as it were, shaft of light, and it picks out towards the top a stooping figure, a figure of prayer. And that's the picture. But it's a... So expressive, isn't it? Because here we are, in the Sea of Galilee, not literally, but you know what I mean, with all the turmoils, and all the reversals, and all the trials, and all the uncertainties, and often we feel exhausted, and we feel discouraged, and not making any headway. But there's one, not on a mountain, but there in glory, and he sees us, and he's praying for us. He now appears in the presence of God for us. Well, we'll conclude and look at the next appearing, God willing, tonight. But let's sing 296. 296.