Coming Again With Salvation - Hebrews 9:27-28

Kootenai Church

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Turning your copy of God's word to Hebrews chapter nine. In the preparation for our study here this morning, we're gonna read together verses 27 and 28 of Hebrews nine.

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Hebrews nine, beginning of verse 27. And in as much as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, 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.

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Let's bow our heads. Father, it is our desire that we would understand your word, the significance of it, and the implications of it today, and how it is that we might live in obedience to you.

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We pray that your spirit would come and be our teacher and our guide, and that your word may be a focus in the meditation of our hearts this morning.

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We ask that you would illuminate our hearts and our minds to understand your word so that we may see it in all of its glory.

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We thank you for the promise of the return of Christ, and as we give our hearts to meditating upon that and all of the implications of it, we pray that you would instill in us and create in us an eager longing for the appearing of our great

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God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen. Well, Christians are a people, and we ought to be known for being a people who live our lives for the life that is to come.

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Scripture constantly points us and our affections and our interests to the life that is to come, and away from this life.

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In fact, we are told to fix our minds and our hearts on heavenly things and not on earthly things below.

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We are to fix our minds and affections on heavenly things where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

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For all of the truly good and lasting and gracious and glorious things that await us belong to the next world and not to this world.

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At one time, all of our lives and all of our affections were caught up in what this world had to offer. We were people who swim in sin and we drank iniquity like water.

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We hunger and thirsted for that. We were rebellious, we were in darkness, and we hated the light, and we loved darkness, and we loved iniquity and sin.

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And then God having delivered us from that, as part of that deliverance, is intended to fix our hope on the life that is to come so that suddenly we are no longer thinking about this world and setting our hope and affections on this world, loving this world and this world's system, and instead, our hearts and affections are pointed always towards Scripture.

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In fact, we are called, as long as we're in this world, we are called aliens and strangers. We're just pilgrims.

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This is how Peter refers to us in 1 Peter chapter two, verse 11, when he says, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.

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In Hebrews 11, speaking of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the author of Hebrews says that they all confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

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You see, salvation takes us out of this world and fits us for the world that is to come.

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So the moment before we are saved, this world is our home. Satan is our master.

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Sin is the water in which we swim. Iniquity is our favorite drink. We love this world.

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We love this world's system. We are on its frequency. Everything about the priorities and the affections of this world, they all capture us, and we live our lives in the lusts of the flesh, by the desires of the flesh.

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We are, by nature, children of wrath. We enjoy this world's system because it is our home. But salvation, which happens in a moment, changes us from citizens of this world to citizens of heaven, and our name is written down there, and suddenly, in that moment, whether you realized it when you got saved or not, everything important to you, everything glorious for you, all of the best things for you, we're all in the life that is to come, in the world that is to come.

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We are waiting for that kingdom, to be citizens of that kingdom and to enjoy that kingdom. We are waiting to be with our

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Lord who is there, with our family who is there, to enjoy our citizenship which is there, to have our relations with all of the people who should truly be the most important to us, and that is the citizens of heaven and not the citizens of this world.

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We are to set our affections on what is to come because all of our spiritual family and our eternal inheritance, everything that we are being made fit for and everything that is being prepared for us is in the life to come.

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Not in this world and not in this world's system. Everything in this world appeals to our flesh, it appeals to our base nature, it appeals to our sinfulness.

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Everything in this world will eventually be burned up. The White House, the

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Senate, the Supreme Court, state governments, local governments, but also your home and your 401k and your bank and this building and the chairs you're sitting in will all dissolve, all of it.

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There is nothing in this world that you are truly fit for and there is nothing about the world to come that you will not be made perfectly fit for.

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It is being prepared for you and you right now are being prepared for it. So scripture calls us to set all of our affections and our loves, all of our focus, all of our attention, our hearts, everything upon what is to come because that is truly our truest focus, our truest and deepest affection and all the meeting of all of our grandest desires all still awaits the life that is to come.

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That is why it was such a sad indictment on American Christianity that the book with the title

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Your Best Life Now even made it on the bestseller list. That title itself should tell you that the guy that's writing it is destined for hell.

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If you can have your best life now, you are going to hell. Your best life is not now and it can never be now.

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It can only be the life that is to come. Well, our passage this morning fixes us upon that reality, fixing our hearts upon the coming of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. In the weeks that have been previous, we've been looking at these things that are appointed for men and for Christ in verses 27 and 28, finishing up Hebrews chapter nine.

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In verse 27, we saw that it is appointed unto men to die and then to face judgment. And then we saw that it is appointed, that's bad news.

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It's appointed unto you to die and face judgment. That's bad news. It is appointed unto Christ also to die but to bear judgment.

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That's good news. But that's not all of the good news because it is also appointed unto Christ to return again a second time, appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin to those who eagerly await him.

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And it is that last phrase of verse 28 that we are going to be focusing on this morning. He will appear a second time without reference to sin with salvation to those who eagerly await him.

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So last week, we looked at how Christ has been appointed to bear the sins of many and today, how he has been appointed to appear a second time.

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Now, there's a parallel here in this text. And as I said, the last, it's just this last phrase of verse 28, the last part of that sentence that is our focus.

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There is a parallel here in verse 28 that is missed if we don't remember what the context is and the argument that the author has been making earlier in the verse, earlier in the passage.

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He compares Christ to the Old Testament high priest and the work that the Old Testament high priest did. So you remember the

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Old Testament high priest on the day of Yom Kippur, he would make the sacrifice, take the blood of the sacrifice, and he would enter into the tabernacle, into the

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Holy of Holies behind the curtain to apply the blood to the Ark of the Covenant. And that was what is referenced in verse 24 when he says the

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Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands. That's the parallelism, the similarity there. Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself.

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So the symbolism, the parallel symbolism is this. The Old Testament high priest would offer the sacrifice, enter into the tabernacle, go behind the veil, and apply the blood to the

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Ark of the Covenant. Similarly, Christ has not entered into an earthly tabernacle, but having offered that one sacrifice for sin, he has entered into the true tabernacle, the presence of God.

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When he ascended from here to heaven, he entered into the presence of God and took his seat at the Father's right hand where he sits and makes intercession for us, waiting until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet, that's

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Psalm 110. So that's the symbolic parallelism between those two priests and their work.

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Now remember three significant things about the Old Testament priest, the Aaronic priest and his work. Number one, the

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Old Testament priest would enter into the holy place often. This is different than Jesus. The Old Testament high priest would go in every year.

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He would enter in to apply the blood and make the sacrifice there outside the court of the tabernacle and then enter into the

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Holy of Holies once every year. And he would do this repeatedly, time after time, year after year.

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Jesus is different. He's made one sacrifice for sin and then he has entered into heaven. Second, the Old Testament high priest did not stay back in the tabernacle in the

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Holy of Holies. How long did he linger back there? Wanna take a guess? He didn't linger at all.

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He went in to do exactly what God had called him to do, which was to sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat and then he got out.

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He didn't stay in the presence of God and bask in the Shekinah glory. He didn't observe the ark. He didn't take pictures of it and drawings of it to show his kids outside of that.

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He went in one day of the year. He did not linger. He did what God had called him to do and he immediately exited.

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Well, Jesus is a little bit different. Having gone into heaven, he has not immediately come out, has he? Now there's a third significant aspect of the

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Old Testament priest's work and that is that the Old Testament priest would leave the view of the people, go into the tabernacle and then he would return again and this is where it is similar.

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This is where the language is similar and the parallel is similar to what we have in verse 28. The people would watch the

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Old Testament priest do everything that he did except apply the blood to the ark of the covenant. They would bring the sacrifice to the courtyard.

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They would watch him offer the sacrifice. They would watch him collect the blood. They would watch him walk into the tabernacle and disappear from their sight and then the people would wait and they would watch.

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What were they waiting and watching for? The high priest to return because if the high priest did not return, what did that mean?

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Somebody needed to reach under the curtain and grab his heels and drag him out of the holy of holies because he had done something to offend the most holy

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God. Either he had not gone through the ritual purifications in the right fashion or he had offered a profane sacrifice or his heart was not right or he had done something out of order.

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He had in some way disobeyed God and the penalty for that in Leviticus 16 was death. If that high priest stepped behind that curtain and he did not have all of his ducks in a row and he had not done everything necessary that God had required and he dared to apply the blood of an inferior sacrifice to that mercy seat, if he dared to do that,

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God would strike him dead. The penalty for that was death. And so you can imagine gathering together on the day of atonement and watching the priest offer the sacrifice, collect the blood and step into the tabernacle, disappear from your view and then you wait with bated breath for the high priest to return and eventually he would step again, appear a second time out of the tabernacle and you could breathe a sigh of relief.

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Why? Because atonement has been made, the wrath of God had been satisfied, he had fulfilled his responsibility and been obedient and God had accepted the merits of that sacrifice by their faith.

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Well, so it is with Christ. Having entered into heaven, we wait with bated breath,

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I hope, for him to return again, to come back from heaven, he will appear a second time without reference to sin.

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Look at that phrase in verse 28, he will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin. There's two parts there

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I want you to notice. Without reference to sin and for salvation and we'll take those in reverse order or in that order.

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First, without reference to sin, what does that mean? The original language is a little bit more stark by its bareness and its simplicity than what we typically have in our

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English translations. The original language just simply reads that he will appear a second time without sin. That's it, without sin.

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What does that mean, without sin? Our English translations add a little bit of an explanation there, without reference to sin or not to bear sin or not to deal with the sin issue, something like that, but it just simply says without sin.

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What does that mean? It doesn't mean that the first time, as if in contrast to the first time he appeared with sin, as if the first time he came, he was a sinner and the second time he will come, he will not be a sinner.

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That's not what's described there, but rather the context helps us to understand what is meant by the phrase without sin because in the context, the author has been describing what he did at his first appearing.

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First, he was manifested to do what? To put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Having been manifested that time, he came to bear the sins of many.

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So his first appearance here was to deal with the sin issue. It was to resolve the sin issue, to put away sin, to make atonement for sin, to offer a sacrifice for sin so that sin would no longer be an issue in him dealing with his people and bringing salvation to his people.

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Well, when he comes again, in contrast to the first time, he will not be dealing with the sin issue again.

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Having offered a sacrifice that is infinitely powerful to save all for whom it was made and having offered a sacrifice that was infinitely valuable enough to save all for whom it was made and having offered that one sacrifice for sin for all time so that no more sacrifice would ever have to be made, no other work for sin would ever have to be accomplished, no more atonement, no more wrath, satisfied nothing.

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He has done all of it in that one offering on the cross. It was so powerful, so valuable, so infinite, so glorious, so sufficient, so perfect in accomplishing all of its intentions that when he comes a second time, it will be without any sin to deal with, without any sin at all.

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He will not atone for his people's sin. He will not offer another sacrifice for his sin, and this stands in stark contrast to the

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Old Testament high priest because when he came out of the tabernacle after applying the blood to the Ark of the

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Covenant behind the veil, what did he do the next day? Offer a sacrifice for sin.

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What did he do the day after that? Offer another sacrifice for sin. The Old Testament high priest was never to appear, never to do anything without some reference to the sin of the people.

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Every sacrifice he made was a constant reminder of sin. Day after day, month after month, year after year, it was a reminder of sin.

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Well, our Savior, when he returns, it will be without reference to any sin, without dealing with any sin.

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The sin issue is taken care of. If you are in Jesus Christ, your sin has been entirely put away, born in full, the wrath of God satisfied, so that when he returns, there is no more wrath to satisfy.

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He has appeared once to bear the sins of many. He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

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So this is how the NIV translates this phrase. He will appear a second time not to bear sin. This is in contrast to the first appearance.

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The ESV says he will appear a second time not to deal with sin, but to save those who eagerly await for him.

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He is not coming back to deal with the sin issue. It's been done. The Old Testament high priest would come out of the tabernacle to deal with sin again.

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Well, our Lord, when he returns, he will come back, but not to deal with sin again. Second, he will come back for salvation.

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Now, what does this mean? Verse 28, he'll appear a second time for salvation. Didn't he appear the first time for salvation?

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Don't we have salvation because of his first appearance? And now we're waiting for him to come back and do what? It's for salvation.

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In what sense, when he comes back, will it be for salvation? What type of salvation is this?

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Because we would have to say that it's true that we currently possess salvation, do we not? If we have the forgiveness of our sins, if our sins have been borne and taken out of the way, we currently have adoption of sons and a cleansed conscience and forgiveness before him.

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We are currently justified and sanctified and set apart. Our glorification is secure because of what he has done.

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He has taken it entirely out of the way. Do we not right now have salvation? Yet it says that he's gonna return a second time for salvation.

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How can he return a second time for salvation if he has already achieved salvation? It's because this salvation is an eschatological salvation.

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It's an end -time salvation. The word salvation simply means deliverance, a deliverance, and the meaning of that is determined by the context and the way in which that word is used.

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When the Lord Jesus returns back, it will be for salvation, but that salvation will be an end -time eschatological salvation.

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We still await all kinds of deliverances to come, and I'm not talking about deliverances like deliverances from demonic possession.

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That's not what I'm talking about. We are still waiting for all kinds of deliverances that are yet future for us, are we not?

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You are waiting to be delivered from the body of death in which you currently reside. That's a future deliverance.

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You are waiting to be delivered from your flesh that you currently and always have to live with. You are currently waiting to be delivered from death, from disease, from infirmity, from mortality, and we are currently waiting to be delivered even from our earthly persecutors, our earthly enemies that we have here in this world.

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There is coming a deliverance when the Lord Jesus Christ delivers us from all of our earthly oppressors and all of our enemies.

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That is yet a future deliverance. The kingdom of Christ, when it comes, will bring about a complete deliverance from all his enemies and all the wicked and all the immoral, and God punishes sinners.

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That deliverance will be a reality, but we're still waiting for those deliverances. Until that time, we have currently salvation, but when he comes, he will bring in the fullness of all the salvation that is yet promised, and we saw how this is explained even in the terms of the new covenant back in chapter eight.

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Some terms of the new covenant have been fulfilled, haven't they? But we are still waiting for the eschatological fulfillment of certain terms of the new covenant.

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We have to wait for all of the terms of the new covenant to be fulfilled, because they are not all fulfilled just yet. So yes, we currently have salvation, but when he returns, we get the fullness of all the salvation that is promised to us, and that return will mean the destruction of his enemies, and this should be a comfort to the people of God.

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This is difficult to think of. This is difficult to consider, because I am sometimes criticized when

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I talk about God coming back, Christ coming back and destroying his enemies. People who think that they're nicer than Jesus seem to suggest that there's something ill -informed in that, or that I have an ulterior motive for that, or that it's horrible for us to think about the destruction of unbelievers.

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The apostle Paul held out the coming of the Lord and the destruction of the ungodly as a comfort for the

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Thessalonian believers. 2 Thessalonians 1 was a church that was being persecuted, and Paul writes this in verse five.

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This is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment, so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are suffering.

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For after all, it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted, and to us as well, when the

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Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know

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God, and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the

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Lord, and from the glory of his power when he comes to be glorified in his saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, for a testimony to you was believed.

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The destruction of the ungodly is set forth in Scripture as something that should comfort afflicted saints, persecuted believers.

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We ought to take comfort in the fact that we will be delivered from all of the wicked when the

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Lord Jesus Christ returns in his glory. Jesus said in Matthew 16, 27, the son of man is going to come in the glory of his father with his angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.

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He is describing judgment. What is it that we are waiting for as believers? What is it that we are waiting for?

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We are waiting for the salvation from our enemies, the deliverance from suffering, the vindication of God's name over the wicked, the destruction of this world system when we realize finally all of the blessings, all of the glory, all of the joy that is promised to us is given to the saints of God.

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It will mean the destruction of all of the wicked and all of the unrighteous. You can't have one of those without the other.

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The best for us is yet to come. Fix your hope on that, that the best for us is yet to come.

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There's nothing in this world, all we're given in this world is glimpses of the next. The fellowship that we enjoy is merely a glimpse, a small sliver, a down payment on the fellowship we get in heaven.

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The victory over sin that we experience now as believers who walk in the power of the spirit, that is just a glimpse of the complete freedom that we will have from the presence of sin and the power of sin someday in the age that is to come.

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The blessing of the word of God and the sanctifying effect of the spirit of God as we grow in holiness and the warming of our affections, these things are but slices of the world that is to come.

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We just get a glimpse of his ways now, just enough to wet our appetite and to tell us there is something more and that that is what we long for.

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What is gonna be the nature of that appearing when he says that Christ will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin?

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What is the nature of that? This is what Jesus promised at his ascension. Jesus said on the night before he was crucified, if I go and prepare a place for you,

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I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there you may be also. That was his promise. I'm going to prepare a place for you in the meantime you're being prepared for that place and he promises that he will come again and receive you to himself.

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At his ascension, the angels appeared and they said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you've watched him go into heaven.

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He ascended from earth to heaven in the clouds. He is coming back again in the clouds in the same way that he left us.

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Titus 2 verse 11, Paul says we are to live sensibly and righteously, godly in the present age, he's looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great

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God and Savior, Jesus Christ who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works.

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We are to long for the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior. Well, that glorious appearing is described in 2

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Thessalonians chapter one, which I just read to you a few moments. He's coming back with his angels in flaming fire to deal out retribution to his enemies and to destroy the wicked and those who afflict you.

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That's what the glory of God appearing is going to mean. Paul says we are to long for that. Does that bother you?

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That we are to long for the destruction of God's enemies? Now, you might say, well, I'm not really longing for the destruction of people.

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It's Jesus I want to see come back. Okay, but when he comes back, do you know what that's gonna mean?

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It's gonna be the end of grace. No more opportunity for repentance. It will be the destruction of the entire world system.

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That is what he has promised. He is coming back with his people, with his angels in flaming fire to mete out his eternal judgment on his enemies, those who will not obey the gospel of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. You long for that? I hope you long for that.

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In some way, in some measure, 1 John 3 says, beloved, we are children of God, and it's not yet appeared as what we will be, but we know that when he appears, we will be made like him when we see him face to face.

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He's going to return. This is the promise of the New Testament. He's going to return to this earth after snatching away his church to establish his kingdom and to destroy his enemies and to judge the nations.

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The contrast between his first appearing and his second appearing could not be more stark. In his first appearing, he came in a manger, meek, lowly, humble, dependent, and it's not how he's coming again.

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He's coming in the clouds. His first appearance was one of humility. His second appearance is regal exaltation.

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He's not coming in humility. Our Lord is done being humbled. When they laid him in the tomb, that was the end of his humiliation.

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There will be no further humiliation. He came to suffer the first time.

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He is coming to rule and to reign the second time, the first time he came to be judged and the second time he is coming to judge.

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Spurgeon said this, quote, now we believe that the Christ who shall sit on the throne of his father,

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David, and whose feet shall stand upon the Mount Olivet is as much a personal Christ as the

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Christ who came to Bethlehem and wept in the manger. We do believe that the very Christ whose body did hang upon the tree shall sit upon the throne and that the very hands that felt the nails shall grasp the scepter and that the very foot that was fastened to the cross shall tread upon the necks of his foes.

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We look for the personal advance, personal reign, personal session, and a size of Christ, close quote.

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You hear that? That second coming is gonna be radically different than the first coming.

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I hope you long for it. His coming is going to mean the end of grace, the destruction of this world system, the damnation and the ruination of his enemies, the establishment of justice and righteousness, the judgment of the nations, the overthrow of all the world powers, and the eternal punishment of millions.

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That should sadness and fill our hearts with joy. I'll leave it to you to work out how you balance those two.

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I have loved ones that I long to see saved as well. I desire their salvation.

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I don't want the end of grace. I don't want the day of grace to come to an end. I don't want to see that. But I long to see the

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Lord Jesus Christ and an end to all this nonsense. You feel like the world's lost its mind?

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Lost its mind a long time ago. Now they've just all escaped from the asylum. They're wandering around running everything now.

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I want it to all end. But understand that the end of this, by God's righteousness, is going to mean the destruction of all of those who are perpetrating all of this iniquity.

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It's going to mean their eternal ruin. That saddens me and it thrills me. I have both of those emotions.

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Maybe I'm only supposed to have one. I'm sometimes criticized for having both or having the thrilled emotion.

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I am thrilled by it, that's true. But I'm also saddened by this. And somehow as believers we have to work that out so that we long to see the establishment of that righteous kingdom and the rule of that righteous king, and that we long to see his name vindicated and sin destroyed and done away with, and his people exalted and glorified as he has promised, that we long for that and we eagerly anticipate it and we desire to see it, and as Peter would say, even hasten that day.

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We want to speed it along. If I could do something to make it happen tomorrow, I would want to do that. But man, at the same time, the destruction of our loved ones who don't yet know the

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Lord, here's how Revelation 19 describes his coming.

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And I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he who sat on it is called faithful and true. And in righteousness he judges and wages war.

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His eyes are a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems. And he has a name written on him which no one knows except himself.

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He's clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God. And the armies which are in heaven clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following him on white horses.

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From his mouth comes a sharp sword so that with it he may strike down the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron.

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And he treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, and on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written,

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King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Then I saw an angel standing in the sun and he cried out with a loud voice saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, come, assemble for the great supper of God so that you may eat the flesh of the kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, small and great.

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And I saw the beast and the kings and their armies assembled to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army.

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And the beast was seized and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who had worshiped his image.

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These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of him who sat on the horse and all the birds were filled with their flesh.

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That's not Sunday morning, Saturday morning cartoon fare. That's not something that makes it into a

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VeggieTales cartoon. But that is gonna happen as sure as I'm standing before you today.

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It has to happen. Where God is not just, where his name is not vindicated, where his righteousness will not be exalted, but he must destroy sin.

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And his coming will accomplish just that. It's interesting, isn't it, that after reading that in Revelation 19 that you and I would be described as those who eagerly wait for this.

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Look at the end of verse 28. He's coming for salvation without reference to sin to those who eagerly await him.

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We are the ones who are described as those who eagerly await him. Do you understand what it means when he comes?

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Do you understand what it means when you pray, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven? Do you understand the implications of that?

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Do you know what would happen to all the wicked if his kingdom does come, when his kingdom does come, what's gonna happen to the wicked?

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That is a sobering reality. The promised blessings that we long for, the kingdom, the rule of Christ, righteousness, the vindication of truth, all of those things will mean the judgment of the nations, the perfect justice will be done, the destruction of the unrighteous, the judgment of liars.

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Friends, if you don't long for the return of Christ and the establishment and the vindication of his name and his glory, if you don't long for that in some measure, in some way, there's something wrong with you.

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There really is. We ought to have some kind of a desire to see righteousness vindicated and established in our world and amongst people and in the nations, to see that king worshiped by the entire world.

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We ought to long for that, to eagerly await for that, to even again, as Peter says, to hasten that day and long for its coming.

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And when our Lord comes, he's not going to do everything that I just read to you from Revelation 19.

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He's not going to do it reluctantly. We are those who eagerly wait for him. But listen, he is the one who right now is in heaven, eagerly waiting for that day to come as well.

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When Jesus comes back, he's not going to come back and reluctantly say, man, now I, oh, I hate to do this, but I didn't want to do this, except I really wish

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I didn't have to do this. He is longing for the day when he will vindicate his people and deliver us and give to us full and final salvation.

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That is why it is absolutely imperative that you know that you are in Jesus Christ.

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Because if you are not, you ought to just read through scripture and understand that what I described to you is going to happen as certainly as anything has ever happened.

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And if you are on the wrong side of that, you will face his justice. We eagerly wait him, not because he is our judge, but because he is our deliverer.

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We eagerly await for his return, not because we are facing his judgment, but because we are receiving his deliverance.

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We are receiving the fullness of salvation. To the Thessalonians, this destruction that is promised, the

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Lord returning in glory with his angels, flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not obey the gospel of Christ, this was to comfort them.

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This should comfort us. We're living in a world that truly has gone insane.

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It has lost its mind. It is irrational. It is broken. It cannot be redeemed or made better.

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It is absolutely destined for hell and for the pit of fire, a total recreation.

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That is the world in which we are living. It ought to comfort us in some measure that the

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Lord himself will deal with all of this in an appropriately righteous and just fashion.

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Philippians 3 .20 says our citizenship is in heaven from which we eagerly await for a savior.

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1 Thessalonians 1 .10, we wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead. Even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

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2 Timothy 4 verse eight, in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

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2 Peter 3 .12, we look for and hasten the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning and the elements will melt with a fervent heat.

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We long for and hasten the day of God burning everything up. That is a biblical sentiment.

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Does it sadden you? Yeah. Does it thrill your heart with joy?

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Yeah. It ought to be both of those. Those are both biblical affections, God honoring affections that can both reside in the same human heart.

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I want to create in you a longing for that day so that you are among those who eagerly await for him. So I ask you this, do you eagerly await for him?

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Do you? Do you? If you were to find out today that your head would not hit the pillow tonight before you saw his face, would that thrill you or threaten you?

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Would that make you discouraged or delightful? Would that excite you or terrify you?

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Which one would it be? If it terrifies you and you're not delighted by that, if that doesn't fill your heart with joy, is it because you have not pursued holiness without which no one will see the

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Lord? Is it because you have not shared the gospel, you have not served him faithfully or fully, you've not stored up treasures above where moth and rust do not destroy, thieves do not break in and steal?

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Is it because you have not contemplated the glories that are awaiting you, that you haven't fixed your hope in your head and your mind upon your eternal inheritance?

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Is that why it threatens you? Is that why it would discourage you? Those are the reasons why it would do that.

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But here's the good news. You still have time for it to delight you and to fill your heart with joy.

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You still have time for that to happen because I promise you that someday you will wake up and before that day is over, you will see his face before your head hits the pillow.

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Someday that will happen. It will either happen because it is appointed unto you once to die and after this to stand before him or it will happen because he will return and transfigure you and he will return in glory and snatch you away to be his own.

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But someday this will happen. So long to be a kind of people who eagerly await for that day to happen.

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Fix your heart and mind on things above. Set your affections on the one who came to bear the sins of many and has been appointed a second time to return with salvation for those who eagerly await him.

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And then let's eagerly await for him. Let's hasten the day. Let's prepare ourselves. Because I hope it's soon.

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I'm thrilled at the prospect. I haven't always been thrilled at the prospect. But there's nothing like the last 11 months to make you thrilled with the prospect of the return of the

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Lord, honestly. One last observation that I will close with. I want you to notice how there are in these closing verses of Hebrews nine, three appearings that are mentioned.

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There's one in verse 24. Jesus has entered heaven to appear in the presence of God for us.

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There's one in verse 26. He was manifested or appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

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And then there is one in verse 28. He will appear a second time for salvation. Two of these appearances happen on earth.

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One of them happens in heaven. And so if we were to put them in order, he appeared on earth to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

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He now appears in heaven in the presence of God for us. And he will appear a second time to bring us salvation.

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Those are three appearances. Two of them here on earth, one of them in heaven. What I want you to notice is that all of his appearances have his work for us as their focus.

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Do you notice that? His first appearance here was to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. For whom did he do that?

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For those who are his people. His second appearance is to appear in heaven there to appear in the presence of God for us where he makes intercession for whom?

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For his people. He will return a second time without sin for salvation for whom? His people.

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Everything our Lord does is for the good and glory of his people.

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And this group for whom he has done these three appearances is the same group in every case. He will bring salvation not to the whole world but to those who eagerly await for him.

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He intercedes not for the whole world but he intercedes for whom? For those whom he has made a sacrifice, for his people.

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And for whom has he made the sacrifice? Not for the whole world but for whom? For us. All of the

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Lord Jesus is doing and dying is for the good and the glory of his people. So it should thrill our hearts to eagerly await him and to see him again.

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Let's bow our heads. Father, we're so thankful for your mercy to us in Jesus Christ for the blessing of our salvation and the blessed hope that is ours in Christ because of what he has done.

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I pray that you would instill in our hearts and fix our hearts upon eternal and heavenly things and instill in our hearts a longing and desire to see

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Christ face to face, to see righteousness vindicated, to see your name exalted, to see you worshiped and glorified in the whole world.

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We long for that day when the knowledge of our God will fill this earth as the waters fill the sea and his glory will be everywhere and we will delight in it and joy in it and glory in it.

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We long for that day and cause us to long even more and more as that day approaches and draws nigh. We thank you for these things and for this encouragement in your word, in Christ's name, amen.