July 27, 2025: Sunday School

Order of Service

• Scripture Reading — Hebrews 9:23-28
• Sermon
• Closing Prayer

---

Sermon Title: The Sufficiency of Christ's Once-for-All Ministry

Scripture: Hebrews 9:23-28

I. Christ the Way — The Place of His Ministry (Hebrews 9:23-24)

A. The underlying problem: man's lack of access to God's presence

1. Under the old covenant, only the priest could enter the inner sanctuary; the veil remained intact
2. The sacrificial system was instructive but incomplete — separation from God persisted
3. The need stated in Hebrews 7: a better hope through which we draw near to God

B. Jesus declares himself the way to the Father

1. John 14:2-6 — "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
2. He goes to prepare a place and promises to bring his people to where he is

C. Hebrews explains how Jesus is that way

1. Christ entered the true, heavenly tabernacle — not one made with hands (Hebrews 9:24)
2. He entered by means of his own blood (Hebrews 9:12), purifying the heavenly sanctuary and making us fit to enter
3. He now appears in the presence of God on our behalf

D. The writer repeatedly emphasizes where Christ now is

1. Hebrews 1:3 — After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high
2. Hebrews 4:14 — A great high priest who has passed through the heavens
3. Hebrews 6:19-20 — A sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope entering behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as forerunner
4. Hebrews 7:26 — Holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens

E. Present and future implications

1. Believers draw near now — prayer is genuine access to the Father through Christ's ministry
2. By faith, believers are already seated with Christ at the right hand of the Father (cf. Ephesians 2:6)
3. This present access is a foretaste of the full and final presence to come

II. Christ the Sufficient One — The Once-for-All Nature of His Sacrifice (Hebrews 9:25-28)

A. No repeated sacrifice was needed or offered

1. The old covenant high priest entered the holy place every year with blood not his own
2. If Christ's sacrifice were insufficient, he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world
3. Instead, he appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself

B. The analogy of human death underscores finality (Hebrews 9:27-28)

1. It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment
2. So also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many — a single, sufficient, unrepeatable act

C. Application: guarding the once-for-all sacrifice against distortion

1. The Roman Catholic doctrine of the Mass blurs the line on Christ's once-for-all ministry by mystically re-presenting his sacrifice
2. The Lord's Supper, rightly understood, is a table of remembrance and a foretaste of the heavenly feast — not an altar; the elements do not change; faith is directed to Christ himself
3. Any system requiring ongoing human works or repeated confession for sufficiency produces exhaustion and despair (cf. Martin Luther's experience)

D. The once-for-all sacrifice stretches across all of redemptive history

1. It covers all of God's people backward to the foundation of the world — all who believed through the sacrificial system are included
2. It extends forward to the end of time — fully sufficient for all whom Christ saves

E. The first and second comings distinguished

1. First coming: to put away sin by his sacrifice — the work of dealing with sin is done
2. Second coming: not to deal with sin (already finished), but to save — to fully manifest and gather his people to himself
3. At his return, bodies will be resurrected and changed; believers will be with Christ forever (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)
4. The problem of presence — broken in the garden — is finally and fully solved; we walk with God again

F. The difference this makes for believers

1. Assurance rests not in the measure of one's faith or works, but in the person and completed work of Christ alone
2. Romans 8:1 — "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" — grounded in the sufficiency declared here
3. Even amid the Romans 7 experience of battling sin, there is no condemnation for those united to Christ by faith and the Spirit