Bulletins - Keystone Presbyterian Church

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Gloria Patri
Doxology
What has to happen before an inheritance can be received? In most cases, a death must occur.
That makes an inheritance unlike almost every other gift. A friend may place a gift into your hands and enjoy watching you open it. But an inheritance often reaches you through loss. The promises may be written down, generous, and legally secured, but they take effect because a death has occurred.
Hebrews 9 asks us to face that uncomfortable connection between inheritance and death: What did it cost for the promises of the new covenant to become ours?
In Part 1, we heard God’s better promises: a new heart, a people who know Him, and sins remembered no more. In Part 2, we saw that the curtain declared the way was not yet open until Christ entered once for all, securing eternal redemption and cleansing the conscience so His people could serve the living God.
Now Hebrews carries the argument one step further. If the new covenant promises are ours, why did the Mediator have to die? What inheritance did His death secure? What is He doing for us now? And what will happen when He appears again?
Please turn with me to Hebrews 9. We will begin with verse 15 and read through verse 28. As we read, listen for three movements: Christ’s death, Christ’s present appearance before God, and Christ’s promised return.
Hebrews 9:15–28 CSB
15 Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance, because a death has taken place for redemption from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. 16 Where a will exists, the death of the one who made it must be established. 17 For a will is valid only when people die, since it is never in effect while the one who made it is living. 18 That is why even the first covenant was inaugurated with blood. 19 For when every command had been proclaimed by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll itself and all the people, 20 saying, This is the blood of the covenant that God has ordained for you. 21 In the same way, he sprinkled the tabernacle and all the articles of worship with blood. 22 According to the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. 23 Therefore, it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves to be purified with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands (only a model of the true one) but into heaven itself, so that he might now appear in the presence of God for us. 25 He did not do this to offer himself many times, as the high priest enters the sanctuary yearly with the blood of another. 26 Otherwise, he would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared one time, at the end of the ages, for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment— 28 so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Verse 15 gathers the passage into one sentence: a promised inheritance, a terrible obstacle, a necessary death, and a perfect Mediator. Here is the central truth of Part 3: By His once-for-all death, Christ secures the inheritance His people could never earn, represents them before God, and will return to complete their salvation.
The passage also presses several theological truths together: Christ is the mediator of the covenant, His death is substitutionary, His sacrifice is once for all, His priestly ministry continues in heaven, and His return will bring salvation to its final fullness.
We will see Christ’s death secure the inheritance, His one sacrifice put away sin, and His return complete salvation.
I. HIS DEATH SECURES THE PROMISED INHERITANCE
His death secures the promised inheritance by redeeming His people from sin, satisfying God’s justice, and putting the covenant promises into effect.
A mediator stands between two parties. But Jesus is not a neutral messenger carrying offers back and forth. He is the God-man who fulfills every requirement necessary to reconcile a holy God and guilty sinners.
He reveals God to us. He represents His people before God. He obeys in our place, bears our curse, gives us His righteousness, and sends His Spirit to apply the blessings He purchased.
Because Jesus is that Mediator, His death redeems “from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.” In other words, the cross reaches backward as well as forward.
Old Testament believers were not saved by the blood of animals while New Testament believers are saved by Christ. There has always been only one Savior, one grace, and one ground of forgiveness.
Before the cross, believers trusted God’s promise of the Redeemer who would come. After the cross, we trust the Redeemer who has come. They looked forward; we look back. But every redeemed sinner from every age is saved by the once-for-all death of Jesus Christ.
Romans 3 explains that God presented Christ as an atoning sacrifice to demonstrate His righteousness. God had passed over sins previously committed—not by ignoring them, but in view of the payment Christ would certainly make.
The cross proves that God has never treated sin lightly. Every sin forgiven before Calvary and every sin forgiven after Calvary is forgiven on the same righteous basis: Christ bore the judgment.
Verse 15 also speaks of “those who are called.” The inheritance is not secured by our cleverness in finding God. It is received because God calls sinners through the gospel and, by His Spirit, brings them willingly to Christ.
The outward call goes to everyone who hears the gospel: repent and believe in Jesus Christ. The inward work of the Spirit opens the heart, grants faith, and brings the sinner willingly to the Savior.
Those whom God calls receive ‘the promise of the eternal inheritance.’
An inheritance is not wages. Wages are earned by work; an inheritance belongs to children because of their relationship to the one who gives it.
In Christ, we are adopted. God is our Father, and we are heirs with Christ. The inheritance includes every blessing of salvation: forgiveness now, fellowship with God, resurrection life, a renewed creation, and the unhindered presence of Christ forever.
Verses 16–17 use the familiar picture of a will. A will does not distribute an inheritance while the one who made it remains alive. Death puts the provisions into effect.
The illustration is not pressed in every detail, but the point is clear: the promised inheritance required the death of Christ.
Then verses 18–22 turn from a will to the covenant ceremony under Moses. The first covenant was inaugurated with blood. Moses sprinkled the book, the people, the tabernacle, and the vessels of ministry. Verse 22 concludes, ‘Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.’
That sentence is severe because sin is severe. God cannot dismiss rebellion with a shrug and remain holy. His justice must be satisfied.
Forgiveness is not God pretending that our sin does not matter. At the cross, our sin was counted to Christ, and through faith, Christ’s righteousness is counted to us.
When we confess a sin in a few words and receive forgiveness, we may forget how costly that mercy was. We say, ‘Father, forgive me,’ and rightly trust His promise. But heaven’s answer to that prayer rests upon the wounds of Christ.
Grace is free to us, but it was secured at infinite cost. The Father gave His beloved Son; the Son willingly laid down His life; and the Spirit applies Christ’s finished work by bringing proud sinners to repentance and faith.
That cost should not make believers afraid to seek forgiveness. It should make us hate the sin that required such a sacrifice and love the Savior who willingly gave Himself.
His death secures the inheritance. But Hebrews does not stop with the fact that a death was necessary; it shows us what kind of sacrifice could actually remove the guilt that kept us from receiving that inheritance.
II. HIS ONE SACRIFICE PUTS AWAY SIN
Verse 23 says the copies of the heavenly things were purified with animal sacrifices, ‘but the heavenly things themselves’ required ‘better sacrifices.’ Although the verse uses the plural, the entire superior sacrificial provision is fulfilled in Christ’s one offering of Himself.
Verse 24 says, ‘For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands (only a model of the true one) but into heaven itself, so that he might now appear in the presence of God for us.’
Those final two words are precious: for us.
Christ appears before the Father as the representative of His people. He does not stand there trying to persuade an unwilling Father to love us. The Father sent Him because He loved us. The Son’s presence declares that the saving work purposed by the triune God has been accomplished.
Our assurance does not rest on our ability to present a flawless case for ourselves. Christ Himself is our plea. His righteousness is our standing, and His sacrifice is the ground of our acceptance.
When accusations rise, look away from yourself to the One who appears before God for you. When your faith feels small, remember that the strength of salvation lies in its object, not in the intensity of the hand receiving it.
Verses 25–26 emphasize that Christ did not offer Himself repeatedly. If repetition had been necessary, He would have needed to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world.
But verse 26 says, ‘But now he has appeared one time, at the end of the ages, for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself.’
One time. One sacrifice. One sufficient Savior.
The old sacrifices were repeated because they could never remove sin. Christ’s sacrifice is never repeated because it has accomplished exactly what God intended.
The Lord’s Supper does not repeat Calvary. It remembers and proclaims the one finished sacrifice until Christ returns. We do not place Christ back upon an altar. The bread and cup are covenant signs that direct our faith to His body once given and His blood once shed. By the Spirit, believers truly commune with the risen Christ and are nourished in faith—not by receiving Him bodily in the elements, but by feeding upon Him spiritually through faith.
Hebrews says Christ appeared ‘for the removal of sin.’ The old sacrifices provided ceremonial purification and pointed forward to a better sacrifice, but they could never take away sins. Christ dealt with sin at its root. He bore its guilt, broke its condemning power, and guaranteed its final removal from His people and His creation.
We still battle sin’s presence, but we no longer live under sin’s dominion. We still confess particular sins, but we do not return to condemnation. And one day, when Christ completes our salvation, even the presence of sin will be gone.
This is why adding our works to Christ is not humility. It is unbelief. If His sacrifice removes sin, our performance cannot improve it. If His righteousness is perfect, ours cannot supplement it.
Good works matter greatly, but they are the fruit of salvation, never its root. They are evidence of living faith, not payment toward an unfinished redemption.
Christ appears now in heaven for us because His one sacrifice has put away sin. That gives us confidence in the present, but Hebrews does not leave our eyes fixed only on heaven as it is now; it turns us toward the day Christ will appear again.
III. HIS RETURN COMPLETES OUR SALVATION
The passage ends by placing two appointments side by side.
Verse 27 says, ‘And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment—so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time.’
Every person has an appointment with death unless Christ returns first. We may postpone many appointments, cancel plans, or refuse to think about the future. But death cannot be avoided by ignoring it.
And after death comes judgment. Scripture does not teach endless opportunities after death, reincarnation, or the disappearance of the soul. We live once, die once, and stand before God.
That is terrifying if we stand there in our own righteousness. Our secrets will not be secret. Our excuses will not survive. Our good deeds cannot erase our rebellion.
But the believer does not face that day alone. Christ was offered once ‘to bear the sins of many.’
The language comes from Isaiah 53: ‘Yet he bore the sin of many and interceded for the rebels.’ On the cross, Jesus stood in the place of His people. Their sin was counted as His, and His righteousness is counted as theirs.
Three crosses stood at Calvary, with Jesus crucified between two criminals. Barabbas was guilty of rebellion and murder, yet he was released while Jesus was condemned in his place. The guilty man walked free, and the innocent Son of God endured judgment.
Barabbas was not released because he was innocent. He was released while another was condemned in his place.
That is a picture of substitution. We do not go free because God discovers that we are innocent. We go free because the sinless Son bore the judgment of the guilty.
But death is not the end of the passage. Verse 28 says Christ ‘will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.’
At His first appearing, Christ came in humility to deal with sin. At His second appearing, He will come in glory to complete the salvation He has already secured.
He will not return to offer another sacrifice. Sin was dealt with once. He returns to raise the dead, gather His people, judge His enemies, renew creation, and bring every promise of the covenant to its appointed fullness.
Hebrews says He comes for those ‘who are waiting for him.’ Christian waiting is not idle speculation about dates. It is faithful hope. We worship, work, endure, repent, love, and witness because our Mediator is coming back.
The high priest once disappeared behind the curtain while the people waited outside. They watched for him to reappear, because his return meant the offering had been accepted and he had survived the presence of God.
Our High Priest has entered heaven itself. We wait for His appearing—not with uncertainty about whether the Father accepted His sacrifice, but with confidence because the resurrection has already declared His victory.
When He appears, faith will become sight. The conscience cleansed now will be joined to a body raised incorruptible. The inheritance promised now will be possessed in full. The God we know now by faith will dwell with us forever.
His return completes our salvation.
CONCLUSION
Hebrews 9 gathers the gospel into three appearances of Christ: He appeared once to remove sin, He appears now before God for us, and He will appear again to bring salvation to completion. That is why the Lord’s Table is not a vague religious ritual, but a covenant meal of remembrance, assurance, and hope.
So we come to the Lord’s Table. The Supper does not repeat Christ’s sacrifice; it proclaims the finished work that secured our forgiveness and directs our faith again to His body once given and His blood once shed.
Paul writes, ‘For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.’ We look back to the sacrifice offered once for all, upward to the Savior who appears for us, and forward to the King who will come again.
If you are outside Christ, do not take the bread and cup as though a religious act could save you. Repent and believe the gospel. Place your whole confidence in the Substitute who died and rose again.
If you belong to Christ, come trusting not in your worthiness but in His finished work. Receive these signs with faith and gratitude: your forgiveness was purchased, your Mediator appears before God for you, and your inheritance is secure.
The sacrifice is finished, the Mediator is present, the inheritance is secure, and the King is coming.
Let’s pray.
- - Hebrews 9:15–28CSB

I. HIS DEATH SECURES THE PROMISED INHERITANCE

II. HIS ONE SACRIFICE PUTS AWAY SIN

III. HIS RETURN COMPLETES OUR SALVATION

Hebrews 9:15–28CSB