Lamoille Valley Grace Brethren Church
February 22, 2026

      • Hebrews 12:28NKJV

  • Trading My Sorrows
  • Before The Throne Of God (Before The Throne)

      • Romans 6:1–10NKJV

      • 2 Corinthians 9:6–7NASB95

  • Scripture Reading: Romans 6:1-10
    Kid’s Time: Playing video games. If your character dies you can regenerate and start where you left off and you continue the story. You get Infinite lives. But, real life isn’t like that is it? We only get one life to live and then the Bible says we are judged by God.
    Proposition: The sacrifice of the life Jesus Christ symbolized by His blood was necessary.
    Interrogative Question: Why was it necessary for Christ’s blood to be shed.
    His Sacrifice Was Necessary…

    I. To Save OT Believers (15)

    II. To Complete the Covenant (16-17)

    III. To Forgive Sin (18-22)

    I. To Cleanse Us (23)

    Hebrews 9:23 NASB95
    23 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.
    For a sacrifice to cleanse from sin, the value of the sacrifice has to match the nature of the offence. To take away ceremonial guilt, an animal sacrifice is ok, but as John Brown wrote,
    An Exposition of Hebrews Chapter 44: The Great Sacrifice (Heb. 9:23–28)

    in order to secure the expiation of moral guilt and the attainment of eternal blessings, a nobler victim must bleed” (John Brown).

    The blood of animals would never be adequate to take into heavenly holy of holies. to satisfy the infinite, eternal character of God, requires the perfect blood of Christ. As a result, we cannot approach God without the blood of Christ covering us.
    We often say that God accepts us just as we are, but that is not biblical. We, by ourselves, bring nothing of value into the presence of God by which He accepts us. As John MacArthur said, “We are totally unpresentable as we are. Otherwise we could present ourselves.” What is true is that come to Jesus just as we are. When we are presented to the Father, Jesus presents us as unified with Him. So the Father accepts us not just as we are, but just as Christ is.
    Hebrews: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Forgiveness Demands Blood) Jesus is the only one who satisfies the Father, and therefore no one comes to Him except through Jesus. The idea that God accepts us as we are is utterly unbiblical. We come to Jesus just as we are, since there is nothing worthwhile we can bring. But He does not present us to the Father just as we are. We are totally unpresentable as we are. Otherwise we could present ourselves. When Jesus presents us to His Father, He presents us in Himself, as He is

    II. To Put Away Sin (24-26)

    Hebrews 9:24 NASB95
    24 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;
    Hebrews 9:25 NASB95
    25 nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own.
    The Counsel of Trent 1562 sets, in no uncertain terms, the perpetual sacrifice of Jesus Christ in the Roman Catholic mass.
    CANON I.–If any one says, that in the mass a true and proper sacriflce is not offered to God; or, that to be offered is nothing else but that Christ is given us to eat; let him be anathema.
    CANON III.–If any one says, that the sacrifice of the mass is only a sacrifice of praise and of thanksgiving; or, that it is a bare commemoration of the sacrifice consummated on the cross, but not a propitiatory sacrifice; let him be anathema.
    Hebrews 9:26 NASB95
    26 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.
    manifested — perfect tense. He appeared in the past and the effects of that appearance continue into the future.
    This was a well thought out plan. God wasn’t just making this up as He went along with no forethought. Jesus didn’t just react to sinful men one by one, surprised by their need for cleansing from sin and having to offer Himself over an over again.
    If you were God how would you have secured the forgiveness of sin for the world? God’s plan was to sacrifice one of the members of the Trinity at a set time in history. If He did it too early, like at the time of Adam, men would not understand why He did it and they would forget that it even happened. If He did it too late, like 100,00 years from now, men would languish in sin and lose heart, and would forget that God promised to do it. Instead He set up a sacrificial system from the very beginning of sin. He formalized that sacrificial system through a special people We know that God is wise in all that He does, and chose the very best way to accomplish His love for us while satisfying His justice.
    Now, these Hebrews had a choice to make. Will they put one foot in Christianity and the other foot in temple worship or will they embrace the priesthood of Jesus Christ and follow Him exclusively. The author makes it clear there is no middle ground. who would want to have fool’s gold when you can have 24 karat gold, who would want a Buick when you could have a Bugatti, who would want matzah when you could have the Messiah.
    Are you trusting in the one an only, once for all, sacrifice of Jesus alone for your salvation?

    III. To Come Again (27-28)

    Hebrews 9:27 NASB95
    27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,
    No Reincarnation!
    The Illustration: Imagine a teacher who gives you a failing grade on a test but refuses to tell you which questions you got wrong—or even that you took the test at all. Instead, they force you to retake a different version of the same test in a different classroom, while wearing a different name tag. You are expected to "do better," yet you have no memory of the errors that caused you to fail. Without memory, there is no learning; without learning, the entire cycle becomes a purposeless loop.
    life is not a "practice run" but a unique opportunity for grace rather than a works-based cycle of debt.
    No dying and coming back to life with visions of hell or heaven and messages from Jesus that are not given to us in the Scriptures that we already have.
    Barnaby was a man who spent his entire life trying to "find himself." He wasn't satisfied with the Bible; he wanted a spiritual experience that felt a bit more... .
    The "Heaven Tourism" Tour
    Barnaby had a "Near-Death Experience." He claimed he died for six minutes and went to "The Great Beyond."
    When he woke up, he didn't talk about the holiness of God or the weight of eternity. No, Barnaby came back with a "Fresh Vision." He immediately started a podcast and wrote a book titled My Six Minutes in the Suburbs of Glory.
    "It was incredible," Barnaby told his congregation. "Heaven looks exactly like a high-end country club in Florida. There’s a fountain that flows with diet ginger ale, and everyone gets a personalized golf cart that never runs out of battery. Also, my childhood hamster, Mr. Nibbles, is now the size of a golden retriever and he speaks French."
    The Reality Check
    The local pastor, a patient man named Dave, pulled Barnaby aside.
    "Barnaby," Dave said, "Let me get this straight. You’re telling me that the Creator of heaven and earth, the One who dwells in unapproachable light, the One who made the Seraphim cover their faces in awe... spent His time designing a ginger ale fountain for you?"
    Barnaby nodded enthusiastically. "And the snacks, Dave! The celestial pretzels are never too salty!"
    Dave sighed. "Barnaby, when Lazarus came back from the dead after four days, he didn't even mention the snacks. When Paul saw the third heaven, he said it was illegal to even describe it because it was too glorious for human words. You’re telling me you’ve got a better 'exclusive' than the Apostles because you saw a French-speaking hamster?
    If your version of heaven is just a better version of your favorite hobby, you haven't visited the Throne of God—you’ve just had a very vivid nap in a furniture catalog. You’re trying to use a map you drew in a dream to navigate the Eternal Kingdom, and frankly, the math doesn't add up and the theology is thinner than those celestial pretzels."
    Don’t buy the books. Don’t watch the videos. Brethren, It is all a waste of time.
    No ghosts wandering around lost, caught between earth and heaven or hell, haunting places until they solve why they died. No, there is death, holding in hades which cannot be escaped, and then judgement before God.
    Hebrews 9:28 NASB95
    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.
    Under the Old Covenant, the high priest would enter into the holy of holies on the day of atonement to offer the sacrifice for the nation. The collective nation would watch the priest disappear behind the veil. If he performed the sacrifice correctly, and God accepted the sacrifice, then the priest would live. Then, he would reappear from behind the veil causing the nation to rejoice that their sins were covered for that year.
    In the New Covenant, Christ our High Priest ascended to the heavenly holy of holies to offer himself as an acceptable sacrifice to the Father. He has dissapeared from our sight and we wait for Him to come again. When He returns at the end of the age, His appearance will be another proof that His sacrifice was acceptable to the Father. It will be a time of joy that we wait for eagerly. In the mean time we have the sealing of the Holy Spirit as a promise that our sins are forgiven.

      • Hebrews 9:23NKJV

      • Hebrews 9:24NKJV

      • Hebrews 9:25NKJV

      • Hebrews 9:26NKJV

      • Hebrews 9:27NKJV

      • Hebrews 9:28NKJV

  • Enough
  • Good Good Father
Lamoille Valley Grace Brethren Church
pastorethan@lvgbc.net
8028883339
http://www.lvgbc.net
26 members