2283. Christ’s One Sacrifice For Sin

No. 2283-38:553. A Sermon Delivered On Lord’s Day Evening, June 29, 1890, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

A Sermon Intended For Reading On Lord’s Day, November 20, 1892.

Now once at the end of the ages he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. {Heb 9:26}

For other sermons on this text:
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 759, “Jesus Putting Away Sin” 750}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 911, “Putting Away of Sin, The” 902}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 962, “Personal Application, A” 953}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2194, “Between the Two Appearings” 2195}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2283, “Christ’s One Sacrifice for Sin” 2284}
   Exposition on Heb 9:18-10:25 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2951, “With or Without Blood Shedding” 2952 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Heb 9:24-10:18 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2283, “Christ’s One Sacrifice for Sin” 2284 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Heb 9:24-10:39 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3102, “Forerunner, The” 3103 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Heb 9; Ex 24:1-10 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3293, “Blood of the Testament, The” 3295 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Heb 9 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2427, “Ark of His Covenant, The” 2428 @@ "Exposition"}

1. I need not read the text again, for I shall not go far away from it; but again and again we shall come back to these precious words about our Lord’s one great sacrifice for sin.

2. What Christ meant to do on the cross, he actually did. I always take that for granted. He did not die in vain; he did not leave any part of his work undone. Whatever was his intention, by the laying down of his life, he accomplished it; for, if not, dear friends, he would come here again. If any of his work were left undone, he would return to the earth so that he might finish it, for he never did leave a work incomplete, and he never will. Christ accomplished the redemption of his people by one stroke; coming here, and living, and dying. He put away sin; he did not merely try to do it, but he actually accomplished the stupendous work for which he left his glory throne above.

3. He did not die to make men capable of being saved; he died to save them. He did not die that their sin might be put away by some effort of their own; but he died to put it away. “Once at the end of the ages he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” There was one death, one sacrifice, one atonement, and all the work of man’s redemption was for ever accomplished; so that we can sing, —

   Love’s redeeming work is done;
   Fought the fight, the battle won.

If the mission on which Christ came to this earth had not been fulfilled, I say again, he would have returned to complete the work that he had begun.

4. That would have meant that he should often have been offered since the foundation of the world, an idea which we cannot hold for a single moment. For Christ to die twice, would be contrary to all analogy. He is the second Adam. He, therefore, is like men. Read the words of Paul in the verse following our text, “It is appointed to men once to die” (not twice), “but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and to those who look for him he shall appear the second time without sin to salvation.” For him, who is the true Adam, to die twice, would be contrary to the analogy of things.

5. It would be also most repugnant to all holy feeling. For Christ once to die a shameful death upon the cross on Calvary, has made an indelible mark upon our heart, as though it had been burned with a hot iron. I have sometimes half said to myself, “God forbid that his dear Son should ever have died!” The price seemed too great even for our redemption. Should he die, the Holy One and the Just, the glorious, and blessed Son of God? The answer to that question is, that he has died. Thank God, he can never die again! It would be horrible for us to think that it should be possible that he should ever be called upon to bear our sins a second time.

6. It would be traitorous to his person, it would be dishonourable to his gospel, to suppose that his sacrifice is still incomplete, and that he might be called upon to die again because his first death had not satisfied the claims of divine justice. The simple suggestion, even for the sake of argument, is almost blasphemous. Christ either paid the ransom price for his people, or he did not. If he did, it is paid; if he did not, do you think he will come again? That can never be. Toplady knew that truth when he taught the saints to sing to their Lord, —

   Complete atonement thou hast made,
   And to the utmost farthing paid
      Whate’er thy people owed:
   Nor can his wrath on me take place,
   If shelter’d in thy righteousness,
     And sprinkled with thy blood.

7. The idea that Christ’s one sacrifice for sin is not sufficient to accomplish his purpose, is also opposed to revelation. We are told that, “Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more, death has no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died to sin once: but in that he lives, he lives to God.” The sinner for whom Christ died is free because of his Substitute’s death; and the Substitute himself is free, for he has discharged every liability, and given to God the full satisfaction that divine justice required.

   He bore on the tree the sentence for me,
   And now both the Surety and sinner are free.

Take a good look at Calvary; get the cross distinctly photographed upon your eyes; behold the five wounds and the bloody sweat. The whole gospel was hung on the cross. It was all there; the battle and the victory, the price and the purchase, the doom and the deliverance, the cross and the crown. See again, in the death of Christ on the cross, a clear idea of what he meant to do, and of what he actually did when he laid down his life for us; and be glad that once, and only once, this great deed had to be done. Nothing more is needed, Christ has put away the sin of those for whom the covenant was made, according to the word that we read just now, “I will remember their sins and iniquities no more.” “Now, where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.”

8. That will stand as a preface. Now I want, with great earnestness, — I fear with much weakness, but still with great earnestness, — to set before you, beloved friends, a summary of the way in which Christ has saved his people. It does not matter how feebly the truth is put to you; if you only hold on it, and firmly grasp it by faith, your souls are saved. I shall have to speak to you briefly upon five things; first, the gigantic evil: “sin.” Secondly, its glorious Remover: “HE.” Thirdly, the memorable event: “Once at the end of the ages he has appeared.” Fourthly, the special sacrifice: “the sacrifice of himself.” Fifthly, and lastly, the grand achievement: “to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

9. I. First, notice, in considering what our text says that Christ has done, THE GIGANTIC EVIL. “Once at the end of the ages he has appeared to put away sin.”

10. “Sin.” It is a very little word, but it contains an awful abyss of meaning. “Sin” is transgression against God, rebellion against the King of kings; violation of the law of right; commission of all manner of wrong. Sin is in every one of us; we have all committed it, we have all been defiled with it. Christ came “to put away sin.” You see, the evil is put in one word, as if wrong-doing was made into one lump, all heaped together, and called, not “sins,” but “sin.” Can you catch the idea? All the sinfulness, all the omissions, all the commissions, and all the tendencies to rebel that ever were in the world, are all piled together, hill upon hill, mountain upon mountain, and then called by this one name, “sin.”

11. Now, sin is what makes man obnoxious to God. Man, as a creature, God loves. Man, as a sinner, God cannot love. Sin is loathsome to God; he is so pure that he cannot bear impurity, so just that the thought of injustice is abhorrent to him. He cannot look upon iniquity without hating it; it is contrary to his divine nature. His anger burns like coals of juniper against sin. It is this that makes sin so dreadful to us, because, as a result of it, we have become obnoxious to God.

12. And sin, dear friends, also involves man in punishment. Inasmuch as we have committed sin, we are exposed to the just and righteous wrath of God. Wherever there is sin, there must be penalty. Laws made without the sanction of reward and punishment are inoperative. God will never permit his righteous law to be broken with impunity. His word still declares, “The soul that sins, it shall die.” Where there is sin, there must be punishment; and although the doctrine is not preached as often as it ought to be, yet every man’s conscience knows that there is a dreadful hell, there is a worm that does not die, there is a fire that never can be quenched, and all these are reserved for unforgiven sinners. This makes sin so terrible an evil. Unless God vacates the throne of the universe, sin must be visited with punishment, and banished from his presence.

13. Yet again, dear friends, sin effectively shuts the door of hope on men. The guilty cannot dwell with God while they are guilty. They must be cleansed from sin before they can walk with him in white. Into heaven there enters nothing that defiles; and if you and I are not pardoned, we must be separated from God for ever. Nothing we can do, while sin remains upon us, can bring us reconciliation with God. Sin must be put away first. It lies across the road to heaven, and blocks up the door by which we come to God; and, unless it is removed, we are lost, lost, lost, and lost for ever.

14. Do you all know, in your consciences and hearts, what sin means? I remember that, when I learned that dread lesson, I felt that I was the most unhappy youth in all Her Majesty’s dominions. Sin went to bed with me, and scared me with visions. Sin rose with me, and made the most glorious landscape dark and gloomy. I had a terrible sound of judgment to come always ringing in my ears. I knew that I was guilty; I did not need for God to condemn me, I condemned myself; I sat in judgment upon my own heart, and I condemned myself to hell. Sin! If you really feel it, no burning irons in the hand of the most cruel inquisitor would ever pain you as sin does. Speak of diseases, and there are some that cause intense agony, but there is no disease that pains like sin on the conscience. Sin on the conscience! It is a prison, a rack, a cross on which all joy hangs crucified, and bleeding to death.

15. That is the first thing in my text, the gigantic evil. In proportion as you feel the evil of sin, you will rejoice to hear that Christ came to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. That is my next point.

16. II. In the second place, having spoken of the gigantic evil that needed to be removed, let me now speak of ITS GLORIOUS REMOVER. Who was it who undertook to remove this mountain of guilt? “Once at the end of the ages HE has appeared.” Who is this who has appeared to put away sin?

17. I will not delay for a moment, but tell you at once that he who appeared was very God of very God. He against whom sin had been committed, he who will judge the quick and the dead; it was he who appeared to put away sin. Is there not great comfort in this fact? It is the Son of God who has undertaken this more than Herculean labour. He appeared, sinner, to save you; God appeared, to put away sin. Lost one, to find you, the great Shepherd has appeared; your case is not hopeless, for he has appeared. Had anyone else other than God undertaken the task of putting away sin, it could never have been accomplished; but it can be accomplished now, for HE who appeared is one with whom nothing is impossible. Listen to that, and be comforted.

18. Who is it who appeared? It is HE, the commissioned by the Father. Christ did not come as an amateur Saviour, trying an experiment on his own account; he came as the chosen Mediator, ordained by God for this tremendous task. The Saviour whom I preach to you is no invention of my own brain. He is no great one who, of his own accord alone, stepped into the gap without orders from heaven. No; but he appeared whom the Father chose for the work, and sent, commissioned to perform it. His very name, Christ, tells of his anointing for this service.

   Thus saith God of his Anointed;
      He shall let my people go;
   ’Tis the work for him appointed,
      ’Tis the work that he shall do;
         And my city
      He shall found, and build it too.

19. “He appeared,” he who was pledged in covenant to do it; for, of old, before the world was, he became the Surety of the covenant on behalf of his people. He undertook to redeem them. His Father gave him a people to be his own, and he declared that he would do the Father’s will, and perfect those whom the Father had given him. “He appeared.” Ah, dear friends, if the brightest angel had appeared to save us, we might have trembled lest he should be unequal to the task; but when he comes whom God has sent, whom God has qualified, and who is himself God, he came on an errand which he is able to accomplish. Think of that, and be comforted.

20. III. But now, in the third place, we come to THE MEMORABLE EVENT mentioned in our text.

21. We are told that, in order that he might save us, Christ appeared: “Once at the end of the ages he has appeared.” He could not sit in heaven, and do this great work. With all reverence to the blessed Son of God, we can truly say that he could not have saved us if he had stayed on his throne, and not left the courts of glory; but he appeared. I do not have to tell you, at this time, that he will appear, although that also is true, for “to those who look for him he shall appear the second time without sin to salvation,” but he has appeared.

22. He appeared, first, as a babe at Bethlehem, swaddled like any other child. This babe is “the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of peace”; and he has “appeared” on earth in human form. Made in the form of a man, he has taken upon himself our nature, the Infinite is linked with the infant, the Eternal with the feeble child. He, on whom all worlds are hanging, nurses on a woman’s breast. He must do that, or he cannot put away sin.

23. Thirty years rolled on; and he had toiled, in obscurity, as a carpenter at Nazareth. The Baptist comes, and proclaims the advent of the Redeemer, and he is there to the moment. Into the waters of Jordan he descends, and John with him; the servant baptizes his Lord; and, as he rises from the waters, the heavens are opened, the dove descends, it rests upon him, and God proclaims him to be his Son, in whom he is well pleased. So Christ, anointed at Jordan, appeared to inaugurate his public ministry, and, by his baptism, to begin working a robe of righteousness which is for ever to adorn us poor naked sinners. “At the end of the ages he appeared”; his appearance began at Bethlehem, and was continued at Jordan.

24. Three more years rolled by, years of toil and suffering; and now the great debt was to be paid, the bill was presented; would he be there to meet it? The charge was laid; would he be there to answer to it? Where should he be but among those olives in Gethsemane, surrendering himself? The night is chilly, the moon is shining; and he is there in prayer. But what prayer! Never did the earth hear such groans and cries. He is there wrestling; but what wrestling! He sweats, as it were, great drops of blood falling to the ground. The sinner is called for, and the sinner’s Substitute has put in an appearance on his behalf in the lonely garden of Gethsemane, so appropriately named, the olive press. In a garden man’s first sin was committed; in a garden man’s Substitute was arrested.

25. But now comes the darkest hour of all. Christ appeared on Calvary, atoning for sin. The sun is veiled as though unable to look upon such a scene of sorrow. Hear the dread artillery of heaven; the Father thunders out his wrath against sin. Behold the flames of fire, the forked lightnings of God’s anger against all iniquity. Who is to bear them? In whose breast shall they be quenched? HE comes. On that tree he presents himself; he does not hide his face from shame and spitting; and, at last, upon the cross, he does not hide himself from divine desertion. Hear his pitiful cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Then the prophecy was fulfilled given by the mouth of Zechariah, “ ‘Awake, oh sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is my fellow,’ says the Lord of hosts.” That sword is sheathed in Christ’s heart.

   Jehovah bade his sword awake,
      Oh Christ, it woke ’gainst thee;
   Thy blood the flaming blade must slake,
      Thy heart its sheath must be!
   All for my sake, my peace to make:
      Now sleeps that sword for me.

26. Yes, Christ appeared; he was visibly crucified among men; and observed by the gloating eyes of cruel men of hate, he appeared in that dread day of judgment and of vengeance. So it was, and only so, that he was able to put away sin.

27. We have come this far, and the path has been strewn with wonders; but only he who knows the meaning of the word “sin” will see any wonder in it. If sin has made the earth tremble under your feet, if sin has scorched you like the blast of a furnace, if sin has burned into your very soul, and killed all your joy, you will hear with delight that God appeared here as man, for this purpose, to put away sin.

28. IV. Now, we must go a step further, and consider THE SPECIAL SACRIFICE which Christ offered. He who appeared put away sin by a sacrifice, and that sacrifice was himself: “Once at the end of the ages he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

29. There was never any way of putting away sin except by sacrifice. The Bible never tells us of any other way; human thought or tradition has never discovered any other way. Find a people with a religion, and you are sure to find a people with a sacrifice. It is very strange; but, wherever our missionaries go, if they find God at all thought of, they find sacrifices being offered. It must be so; for man has this law written on his very conscience.

30. Christ must bring a sacrifice; but observe what it was; he offered himself. “He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself,” his whole self. Christ did not give to us merely a part of himself; he gave himself. Let me say those sweet words again, “He loved me, and gave himself for me.” His blood? Yes. His hands, his feet, his side? Yes. His body, his soul? Yes; but you need not say all that; “He gave himself.” “Who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree.” Whatever Christ was in himself, he gave that; he offered himself as a sacrifice for sin. What a wonderful sacrifice! Ten thousand young bulls, myriads of sheep, enough to cover all the pastures of the earth, what would their blood avail? But God, God incarnate, Emmanuel, God with us, offers himself. What condescension, what love, what infinite compassion, that he should sacrifice himself for his enemies, for those who had broken his holy law!

31. Christ offered himself alone. He put away sin by the sacrifice of himself; not by the sacrifice of his Church, not by the sacrifice of martyrs, not by the offering of wafers and consecrated wine; but by the sacrifice of himself alone. You must not add anything to Christ’s sacrifice. Christ does not put away sin through your tears, and your grief, and your merit, and your alms-giving. No, he put away sin by the sacrifice of himself; nothing else. You must take nothing from Christ’s sacrifice, and you must add nothing to it.

32. That sacrifice, too, if I read the Greek properly, was a slain sacrifice, a bloody sacrifice. Christ gave his life. It is written, “Without shedding of blood is no remission.” He shed his blood. “The blood is its life,” is true of Christ’s sacrifice; for without bloodshedding it would have been of no avail. He poured out his soul to death. In instituting that dear memorial feast, which you are told to observe in memory of him, he said, “This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” The putting away of sin was accomplished by Christ dying in the room, and place, and stead of guilty men. Christ says, “I will take the punishment of sin.” He takes it; he bears it on the cross. Sinful man, hear this! Take that fact to be true, and rest your whole soul on it, and you are saved. Christ died for believers. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If you believe in Christ, that is, if you trust him; if you trust him now, if you trust him altogether, if you trust him only, and say, “There I am resting, believing that Christ died for me,” you are saved; for Christ has put away your sin; you shall not die. How can a man die when his sin is put away by Christ’s all-sufficient sacrifice?

   If sin be pardon’d, I’m secure;
      Death hath no sting beside;
   The law gives sin its damning power;
      But Christ, my Ransom, died.

Christ’s appearing, then, was so that he might, as a High Priest, present a sacrifice; he presented himself to the death on the cross; he died, and by that dying he has put away sin.

33. V. That brings me to my closing point, THE GRAND ACHIEVEMENT. Christ appeared “to put away sin.” What can that mean?

34. It means, first, that Christ has put away sin concerning its exclusion of men from God. Man, by his sin, had made this world so obnoxious to Jehovah that God could not deal with its inhabitants apart from Christ’s sacrifice. He is infinitely merciful, but he is also infinitely just; and the world had become so putrid a thing that he declared that he repented that he had made man upon the earth. Now this whole world of ours must have gone down into eternal ruin had not Christ come. John the Baptist cried, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” the whole bulk of it. It was then and there removed by one stroke, so that God could deal with man, could send an embassy of peace to this poor guilty world, and could come on gospel terms of free grace and pardon to deal with a guilty race. That was done. You may all thank God for that.

35. But there is more needed than that. When God comes to deal with men, we find, next, that Christ has for every believer taken away sin concerning its punishment. I mean what I say. God cannot punish twice for the same offence; and to lay sin upon Christ, and then to demand its penalty of those for whom he stood as Substitute, would be to demand compensation twice and punishment twice for one offence; but this can never be.

   Payment God cannot twice demand,
   First at my bleeding Surety’s hand,
      And then again at mine.

That would be a gross injustice; and the Judge of all the earth must do right. Behold, then, this fact. If you believe in Christ Jesus, he bore the punishment of your sin. In that short time on the tree, the infinity of his nature enabled him to render to God’s justice a vindication which is better than if all for whom he died had gone to hell. Had all been lost, God’s justice would not have been vindicated so well as when his own dear Son —

   Bore, that we might never bear,
      His Father’s righteous ire.

36. He has made the law more honourable by his death at its hands than it could have been if all the race of men had been condemned eternally. Oh, soul, if you believe in Jesus, the chastisement of your peace was upon him, and with his stripes you are healed! “He was made a curse for us, as it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’ ” And was he cursed for me, and shall I be cursed, too? That would not be consistent with divine equity. The true believer may plead the justice as well as the mercy of God in the matter of his absolution. If Christ died, then all who were in Christ died with him; and when he rose, they all rose with him; and when God accepted him by raising him from the dead, he accepted all who were in him. Glory be to his holy name!

37. Further, Christ put away sin, concerning its condemning power. You have felt the condemning power of sin; I have supposed you have done so. If so, listen. “There is, therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” You are a sinner, but your sin is not imputed to you, but to him who stood as your Sponsor, your Paymaster, your Surety. Your sins were numbered on the Scapegoat’s head of old, even on Christ, the divinely ordained Substitute for all his people. As David wrote, “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile!” Your sin does not condemn you; for Christ has been condemned in your place. “Neither do I condemn you,” says the Lord; “Go in peace.”

38. Yet once more, sin is put away now concerning its reigning power; for, if sin is pardoned through the atoning blood, we come to love Christ; and loving Christ, away goes every sin. The man for whom Christ died, who knows it, who knows that Christ put away sin, must love Christ; and loving Christ, he must hate sin, for to love sin and to love Christ at the same time, would be impossible. If he bore my guilt, then I am not my own; for I am bought with a price, even with his most precious blood. He who suffered in my place shall now be my Master. I lie at his dear feet, and bless his name.

   Oh, how sweet to view the flowing
      Of his sin-atoning blood,
   With divine assurance knowing
      He has made my peace with God!

39. When you get as far as that, then you love Christ, and serve him. I have told you before about the bricklayer who fell off a scaffold, and was taken up so injured that it was seen that he must soon die. A good clergyman, bending over him, said, “My dear man, you had better make your peace with God.” The poor fellow opened his eyes, and said, “Make my peace with God, sir? Why, that was done for me almost two millennia ago by him who took my sin, and suffered in my place.” Thank God for that! I hope that many of you could say the same; you would not then talk about making your peace with God, or about doing something to reconcile you to God. The very thought of adding anything to Christ’s finished work, is blasphemy. Believe that he has done all that is required, and rest in it, and be happy all your days.

40. With this remark I finish. Sin is put away concerning its very existence. Where has sin gone to when a man believes in Christ? Micah says, “You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea,” where they will never be fished up again. The devil himself may fish to all eternity, but he will never fish them up again. God has cast the sins of believers into the depths of the sea. Where have they gone? “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” How far is the east from the west? Will you go and measure it on the globe? Fly up to the heavens, and see how far you can go east, and how far you can go west. Is there any bound to space? So far God has removed our transgressions from us.

41. A more wonderful expression is this, “You have cast all my sins behind your back.” Where is that? Where is God’s back? Is there any place behind his back? He is present everywhere, and seen everywhere. It must be nowhere at all, then; and our sins are thrown into the nowhere. He who believes in Christ may know for certain that his iniquities have gone into the nowhere. Listen once more: “ ‘In those days, and in that time,’ says the Lord, ‘the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found.’ ” So sin is annihilated for all who trust the Saviour. Listen to Daniel’s description of the work of Messiah the Prince, “to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins.” If he has made an end of them, there is an end of them. Oh my heart, sing hallelujah! Let every beat of my pulse be a hallelujah to him who has put away my sin! Poor sinner, if you are black as the devil with sin, crimson to the very core with iniquity, yet wash in the fountain filled with the blood of the Lamb, and you shall be whiter than snow; for the Lord Jesus, by the sacrifice of himself, has for ever put away the sin of all who trust him.

42. Dear hearers, have you laid hold of this great truth? Then I do not care to what sect you belong; and I do not care what your standing in life is; and I do not care what your opinion in politics may be. Has Christ put away your sin? If he has, be as happy as the days are long in summer-time; and be as bright as the garden is delightful in June. Sing like angels; you have more to sing about than angels have; for never did they taste redeeming grace and dying love. They were never lost, and therefore never found; never enslaved, and therefore never redeemed. God in human flesh has died for you. God loved you so that he would be nailed to a tree for you. You have sinned; but you are today as if you had never sinned. “He who is washed is clean every whit.” “And you are washed.” Oh, I say again, let your heart beat hallelujah! Let your pulse seem to say, “Bless, bless, bless, bless, bless the Lord!”

43. “Oh!” one says, in a mournful and sorrowful tone, “I am afraid it is not so with me.” Well, then, do not go to sleep tonight until it is. If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is so. “Well, I hope that it is so,” one says. Away with your hoping! What is the good of that? There are many people who go hoping, hoping, hopping, hopping. Get out of that hoping and hopping; and walk steadily on this firm ground: Christ died for all who believe in him, really died, not died according to that theory which teaches that he died no more for Peter than he did for Judas, and died for those who are already in hell as much as he died for those who will be in heaven. The universal theory of the atonement has precious little comfort in it; albeit that Christ’s death was universal in the removal of the hindrance to God’s dealing on terms of mercy with the world, yet he laid down his life for his sheep. He loved his Church, and gave himself for it. He has redeemed us from among men, out of men. He has taken us to be his own by the purchase of his blood; we are redeemed, washed, saved. If this is your case, go home, and be glad; let no one beat you in holy merriment. There is a passage at the end of the parable of the prodigal that I like very much, “and they began to be merry.” The parable does not tell us when they stopped being merry; but I suppose they are still merry. I know that, ever since my Father put the ring on my finger, and shoes on my feet, and gave me the kiss of love, and I knew that I was forgiven, I have been merry, and I intend to be still merry, until my merriment is lost in the merriment above, where they keep perpetual holiday, and sing to the praise of the Redeemer, “You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.” To him be honour, and glory, and blessing, for ever and ever! Amen.

Exposition By C. H. Spurgeon {Heb 9:24-10:18}

24. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands,

Christ has not entered into any earthly temple or tabernacle.

24-26. Which are the types of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy place every year with blood of others; for then he must often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once —

And only once —

26. At the end of the ages he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

The levitical priests continually repeated their sacrifice, for it was not effective when offered only once; but our great High Priest has once and for all presented a sacrifice which has made a full atonement for all his people’s sins, and there is therefore no need for it to be repeated.

27. And just as it is appointed to men once to die,

Notice how the apostle continues to introduce that important little key-word “once.”

27, 28. But after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered —

Only once —

28. To bear the sins of many; and to those who look for him he shall appear the second time without sin to salvation.

May we be among the privileged company who look for him!

10:1. For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make its comers perfect.

A man could go to the levitical sacrifices twenty years running, and yet be none the better. He must go again and again as long as he lived. They were only figures and shadows and types; the real sacrifice is Christ.

2. For then —

If they had been effective, —

2. Would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.

Once forgiven, the sin would not have come back again. If the sacrifice had really cleansed the conscience of the offerer, he would not have had a reason to present it again.

3-5. But in these sacrifices there is a memory again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Therefore when he comes —

He who is the essence of it all, “When he comes, — ”

5-7. Into the world, he says, “Sacrifice and offering you would not desire, but a body you have prepared for me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have had no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do your will, oh God.’ ”

Types were no longer needed when the great Antitype had come. Christ was no longer prefigured, for he was there in person. He put away the old shadows of the blood of bulls and goats when he brought his own real sacrifice, the true atonement for sin.

8, 9. Previously he said, “Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin you would not desire, neither had pleasure in them”; which are offered by the law; then he said, “Lo, I come to do your will, oh God.” He takes away the first, so that he may establish the second.

The old law is gone, the first sacrifice is no longer presented, for the second is come, the real offering of Christ the Lamb of God.

10. By that will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.

Once, and only once. How Paul loves to recall this fact!

11, 12. And every priest stands daily ministering and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man, —

Note these glorious words, “This Man,” —

12, 13. After he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth waiting until his enemies are made his footstool.

He would not have sat down if his work had not been done. He would not have ceased from his priestly service of presenting sacrifice if his one offering had not been sufficient. This Man’s offering once, once, once, has done all that God demanded, and all that man required.

14. For by one offering he has perfected for ever those who are sanctified.

This glorious message is for you, beloved, if you believe in Christ. By his one sacrifice he has done all that you need; he has perfected you for ever.

15-17. But the Holy Spirit also is a witness for he had said before, “ ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,’ says the Lord, ‘I will put my laws into their hearts, and I will write them in their minds; and I will remember their sins and iniquities no more.’ ”

Treasure up these golden words: “I will remember their sins and iniquities no more.”

18. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

The offering for sin is in order that sin may be put away; and if it is put away, so that God himself will remember it no more, what more is needed? What more could be desired? Therefore, let us rest in the one great finished work of Christ, and be perfectly happy. Sin is gone, wrath is over, for those for whom Christ died; they are perfected for ever through his one great sacrifice.

{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, Names and Titles — Priest” 395}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, Sufferings and Death — The Attraction Of The Cross” 280}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, Sufferings and Death — Wonders Of The Cross” 289}
Just published. Price One Penny.
John Ploughman’s Sheet Almanack for 1893

“For several years, Mrs. Spurgeon has selected the texts for her dear husband’s little Book Almanack; and this fact has caused many readers to speak of it as her Almanack. The one about to be issued is hers in a double sense. Not only has she chosen the passages of Scripture for daily meditation throughout the year, and written an interesting letter concerning them; but other articles from her pen appear in the book. The illustrations were almost all selected by Mr. Spurgeon, of whom an excellent portrait is given; and there are also four exquisite little articles by the late beloved Editor, for which special illustrations have been prepared. We trust that all old friends will purchase and distribute the Almanacks for 1893, and that many new friends will be induced to do so by the information we have given here.” — Notice from November “Sword and Trowel.”

Passmore & Alabaster, Paternoster Buildings, London; and all Booksellers.

Jesus Christ, Names and Titles
395 — Priest
1 Jesus, in thee our eyes behold
   A thousand glories more
   Than the rich gems, and polish’d gold,
   The sons of Aaron wore.
2 They first their own burn offerings brought
   To purge themselves from sin:
   Thy life was pure without a spot,
   And all thy nature clean.
3 Fresh blood as constant as the day,
   Was on their altar spilt:
   But thy one offering takes away
   For ever all our guilt.
4 Their priesthood ran through several hands,
   For mortal was their race;
   Thy never changing office stands
   Eternal as thy days.
5 Once in the circuit of a year,
   With blood, but not his own,
   Aaron within the veil appears,
   Before the golden throne.
6 But Christ by his own powerful blood
   Ascends above the skies,
   And in the presence of our God
   Shows his own sacrifice.
7 Jesus, the King of Glory, reigns
   On Sion’s heavenly hill;
   Looks like a lamb that has been slain,
   And wears his priesthood still.
8 He ever lives to intercede
   Before his Father’s face:
   Give him, my soul, thy cause to plead,
   Nor doubt the Father’s grace.
                        Isaac Watts, 1709.

Jesus Christ, Sufferings and Death
280 — The Attraction Of The Cross
1 Yonder — amazing sight! — I see
   Th’ incarnate Son of God
   Expiring on th’ accursed tree,
   And weltering in his blood.
2 Behold, a purple torrent run
   Down from his hands and head,
   The crimson tide puts out the sun;
   His groans awake the dead.
3 The trembling earth, the darken’d sky,
   Proclaim the truth aloud;
   And with th’ amazed centurion, cry,
   “This is the Son of God!”
4 So great, so vast a sacrifice
   May well my hope revive:
   If God’s own Son thus bleeds and dies,
   The sinner sure may live.
5 Oh that these cords of love divine
   Might draw me, Lord, to thee!
   Thou hast my heart, it shall be thine!
   Thine it shall ever be!
                        Samuel Stennett, 1787.

Jesus Christ, Sufferings and Death
289 — Wonders Of The Cross
1 Nature with open volume stands,
   To spread her Maker’s praise abroad;
   And every labour of his hands
   Shows something worthy of a God.
2 But in the grace that rescued man
   His brightest form of glory shines;
   Here, on the cross, ‘tis fairest drawn
   In precious blood and crimson lines.
3 Here I behold his inmost heart,
   Where grace and vengeance strangely join,
   Piercing his Son with sharpest smart,
   To make the purchased pleasures mine.
4 Oh, the sweet wonders of that cross,
   Where God the Saviour loved and died!
   Her noblest life my spirit draws
   From his dear wounds and bleeding side.
5 I would for ever speak his name,