Sin Put Away - Part 1 of 2

The Baptist Bible Hour now comes to you under the direction of Elder Lacerre Bradley, Jr. O for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise! The praise of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace!

This is Lacerre Bradley, Jr. inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace. One day when heaven was filled with his praises, one day when sin was as black as could be, Jesus came forth to be born of a version, well done once then, my example is he. One day they led him up Calvary's mountain, one day they nailed him to die on the tree. Suffering, anguished, despised and rejected, bearing our sins, my Redeemer is he. Living he loved me, dying he saved me, bearing he carried my sins far away, writing he justified freely forever, one day he's coming, O glorious day. One day they left him alone in the garden, one day he rested from suffering free. Angels came down, all his tombs to keep vigil, hope of the hopeless, my Savior is he.

One day the grave could conceal him no longer, one day the stone rolled away from the door. Then he arose over death he had conquered, now he's ascended, my Lord, evermore. Living he loved me, dying he saved me, bearing he carried my sins far away, writing he justified freely forever, one day he's coming, O glorious day. One day the trumpet, the sound for his coming, one day the skies with his glories will shine. Wonderful day, my beloved one's ringing, glorious Savior, this Jesus is mine.

Living he loved me, dying he saved me, bearing he carried my sins far away, writing he justified freely forever, one day he's coming, O glorious day. I'm glad you've joined us for the broadcast today and pray the message will be a blessing to you. If you want us to continue on your local station, take time to write us, and if you can, help us with the support of the program.

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There you can read The Baptist Witness and also find our Sunday and daily broadcasts. Sin put away. What a wonderful thought.

What a blessing to consider. Sin put away. I want to read from the book of Hebrews, chapter 9. We begin with the 22nd verse. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures 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 enterth into the holy place every year with blood of others. For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world, but now once in the end of the world he hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

There are several lessons to be drawn from this portion of scripture. First of all, sin cannot be ignored. There are efforts made to ignore or minimize sin.

There is a religious group which says that sin and evil are an illusion. Sin is not a reality, so it doesn't need to be a concern. One well-known preacher says that he does not like to mention sin because it is negative. So he wants to deal only with that which he considers to be positive, and sin is ignored. And many say I'm not really concerned about sin because basically I am a good person. Over the past few years I have been asking people, particularly when I come in contact with some that I know nothing about them, know nothing of their background, want to have a conversation about the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I ask them, where do you stand before God? If you were to die, on what basis do you think you could go to heaven?

And 99% of the time they say something like this, well I really am a good person, or I'm not all that bad. I don't claim to be perfect, but I just believe God would let me in because I've got a good heart, so I think everything will be okay. Well the word of God deals with the reality of sin. The word sin is used over 400 times in the Bible, and there are other words also that designate it.

Iniquity, transgression, unrighteousness, disobedience, and others. So there is constantly reference made to sin. Sin is a problem. Sin needs to be dealt with.

And we've read in this portion of the book of Hebrews the one and only solution to it, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. There are many specific declarations in scripture that emphasize the fact we are sinners. Romans chapter 5 verse 21, wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for all have sinned. This is of course reference to the sin of Adam. When Adam transgressed the law of God particular forbidden fruit and the consequences of his sin was meted out upon him.

He was the appointed head and representative of the human race. So when he sinned, he passed that sin on to his posterity. So all of us are born with a sinful nature. By this one man sin entered into the world and as a result death. That's why there's death because of sin. So death passed upon all men for all have sin. There are no exceptions. Nobody can say I'm just not a part of this situation that is here described.

I'm better than that. No according to the testimony of God's word all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 9 says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it. When a person begins to defend themselves by saying I may have some faults but I've got a good heart. It's evident that they are deceiving themselves. The heart is deceitful. We tend to make out a better case for ourselves than what is correct.

It's desperately wicked. Now Jesus confirmed that in the book of Matthew chapter 15 of the 19th verse. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness blasphemies.

Where do these things come from? Come from the heart because man is a fallen sinner. He's born with a sinful nature.

Colossians chapter 3 verse 8 lists sins, anger, malice, blasphemy, filthy communications out of your mouth and the list of sins that are identified throughout scripture are numerous. Speaks repeatedly of pride. Somebody might say well I'm certainly not a thief.

I'm not a liar. I haven't committed any great crime and yet may well be guilty of pride because you feel yourself to be superior to other people. You look on your record and overlook your sins, your failings. You're proud of where you stand and God's word says that our God resists or rejects the proud. And so when you walk in pride, self-righteousness, defending yourselves, feeling to be superior, this is a great sin. Book of Proverbs tells us that God hates even a proud look.

So the sin of pride is repeatedly condemned in scripture. Envy. Have you ever been envious of somebody? You saw what they had.

You saw their position. You said why is it that other people seem always to be so successful, to get ahead, to have a position in life, to be so attractive? Why can't I have that? You're envious, jealous, and that's a sin. Idolatry.

Say I've never bowed down to a God, hewn out of wood, cut out of stone, but anything that you adore, anything that you worship, anything that you serve, anything that you put in your life before God himself means that you are guilty of idolatry. Hatred. Never hated anybody. You hold a grudge. You wish harm to befall them.

If something bad happens to them, you take satisfaction in it. Strife. Strife. Conflict is a sin. Maybe there's strife in your marriage.

What do you do to correct it? What do you do to avoid strife? Do you as a husband follow the biblical admonition to know and understand your wife, to be considerate of her, considerate of her emotions? Or are you calloused and hard, judgmental?

What about a wife who regularly criticizes her husband and puts him down, knows what buttons to push to get him upset, creating strife? Lying obviously is a sin. God's Word says that we're to speak the truth. Judging. What about judging other people? You judge their motives.

You jump to conclusions and decide what's in their heart, what's in their mind. Judging is a sin. Bitterness. The person is angry and they don't deal with it before the sun goes down like Ephesians chapter 4 tells us to do. Then it sets in to long-term bitterness and bitterness is described as that which springs up and defiles many. I'm confident there are people who are physically ill because they are bitter.

Doctors have confirmed that a person with an ongoing angry spirit with bitterness can indeed suffer physical consequences to say nothing about the spiritual devastation that's the result of it because it hinders your prayers and it disrupts your interaction with family and friends. Murmuring. Murmuring is a sin.

First Corinthians chapter 10 tells us that God destroyed a multitude in one day because they murmured. People even in this country which is so wonderfully blessed and favored tend frequently to complain. Could you be described as a complainer or you never seem to think that things are right? Murmuring. Covetousness.

Not just being envious of what the other person has but really desiring that you should have it and not them. Being covetous. Whisperers. Covenant breakers. Unthankful.

Thankfulness is described throughout scriptures as the trait of one whose heart has been touched by divine grace and the ungodly are unthankful. Boasting. Rebellion.

On the list could go. Your biggest problem is sin. Now you may not think of it that way. You may say well I think about my problems. I think about my health problems and they can be severe and they can occupy a lot of our attention trying to deal with whatever the problem may be but your health problems are not your greatest problems. Your financial problems are not your greatest problem. Your job is not your greatest problem.

Even your marriage is not your greatest problem. Sin. Sin is your biggest problem.

It's the biggest problem for all of us. Sin has consequences here and hereafter. There are consequences that must be suffered often in life because we have rebelled against God.

We have violated his law. We have sinned and they have eternal consequences because we have read in this passage that after death there is judgment and the remedy for sin also confirms the fact that sin cannot be ignored. That 26th verse which we've read in chapter 9 of Hebrews for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world but now once in the end of the world he hath appeared to put away sin and how did he put it away by the sacrifice of himself. So the fact that it was necessary for the son of God the only perfect man that's ever lived to come here go to the cross and die that shameful death upon the tree confirms the fact that sin cannot be ignored.

It required a supreme sacrifice to put it away. Second thing we note in this portion of scripture that death is certain. It says it is appointed unto man once to die. So unless you're here when Jesus comes back and are caught up in the air to meet him you will die.

There have been exceptions such as Elijah that the Lord caught up to be with him but even these men went through a dramatic change and transformation to be able to enter into the presence of God. It is appointed. Now you make certain appointments and you may make several appointments with the doctor because you want to avoid death but this is an appointment though you would never have made it. God has made it. It is appointed unto men once to die. God has determined the time of it. Job chapter 1 verses 20 to 22. Then Job arose and rent his mantle and saved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshiped.

This is following the great devastation that came to him when he had lost his material possessions and his children had been killed in a house that caved in on them at the time of storm and he said, naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return hither. The Lord gave and the Lord taketh away. Job recognized that God had taken away from him the things that he had.

Yes satan was involved but God had given him the liberty to take these things away from Job that it might be displayed that Job was a man of faith and would trust God in the darkest of times. Blessed be the name of the Lord. He praised God. He worshipped him and in all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly. So Job was not mistaken.

He was not confused about the matter when he says the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. God has made this appointment that we will die. Now many prefer not to think about it. Say I really don't want to think about the fact that I've got to die. Some would say that seems rather morbid.

Well it's a fact. Often when I've asked people this question about what do you think will happen when you die I say well I've never thought about that. Well that's something you ought to think about because you are going to die. What's going to happen to you when you die? Where are you going to go when your soul leaves this body? We see an example of this in the book of Luke chapter 12 reading in the 16th verse. And he spake that is Jesus spake a parable unto them saying the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully and he thought within himself saying what shall I do because I have no room where to bestow my fruits this man is prosperous he's had a great harvest what are we going to do and he said this will I do I will pull down my barns and build greater and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods and I will say to my soul soul thou has much goods laid up for many years take thine ease eat drink and be merry but God said unto him thou fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee then who shall those things be which thou hast provided this man was not thinking about death he was thinking about his prosperity here in life I'm going to tear down the barns I'm going to build bigger barns I'm rich I want to be richer I'm reveling in my prosperity and Jesus said so is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God you can spend all your time thinking about making money laying up treasures on this earth but if you're not rich toward God you're impoverished death is certain Jesus then spoke of it in Matthew chapter 16 of the 26th verse for what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul to be the richest man on this earth the man of greatest fame prominence and power but if he gains all of that and loses his soul what profit is it it is appointed and the man wants to die I've been preaching funerals for over 65 years I've preached a lot of them I've preached funerals of babies and children teenagers people of all ages even after a hundred years of age so I'm constantly reminded of death I know it's a reality but recently Emily and I bought our burial plots there's something a little sobering about that walk away from it say yeah this is the place one of these days somebody's going to carry my casket right across this little plot of ground and bury it in this place it's a reminder death is certain it's a reality see forever what a comfort to know that those who are believers in jesus christ will ultimately go home that final home to be with the lord forever and all of those there will be happy to give him the praise and the glory recognizing that they did not help to save themselves but salvation was entirely by his sovereign grace if you'd like to get this complete message on cd request it when writing us till next week at this same time may the lord richly bless you all there Oh Oh The Baptist Bible Hour has come to you under the direction of Elder LeSaire Bradley jr. Address all mail to the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217 That's the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217 You