Hebrews 9:24-28 (ESV)

²⁴For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. ²⁵Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, ²⁶for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, ²⁸so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

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How great would it be to have a God who does not even remember your sins?  Well, Praise the Lord! you do!  God says in Isaiah 43:25, “I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”  What that means is; it is like you woke up this morning with a clean slate. Everything you ever did wrong in the past was completely forgotten.  The prophet writes in Lamentations 3:22-23, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning.”  However, we often forget the kind of God we have, either we doubt, or we misunderstand His mercy.  Though we may doubt God’s forgiveness, or make it conditional, He has forgiven us completely! “Once for all!” (cf. 26).

On the cross, Christ has done away with sin.  In our text the inspired writer does not identify specific sins, yet we have all done them. God says in Genesis 8:12, “for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”  Has the devil been using this verse to plague you with the memory of past sins so that you wonder if God has really forgiven you? Do you feel that your action was so awful that even the most gracious God could not forget it?  Perhaps like me, you need to pray, “Dear Jesus, forgive me for the sin of coming back to You asking forgiveness for a sin You forgave and forgot long ago!”  

While you can live knowing you are forgiven, this is no “cheap grace” or easy forgiveness.  You cannot knowingly go on sinning, thinking that later you can get your life straight and say, “I’m sorry.”  No, our forgiveness cost Jesus His life.  Christ was not offered for any sin of His own; “He was wounded for our transgressions; . . . [God] laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (cf. Isaiah 53:5-6). When Christ appears a second time it will not be deal with sin because sin has already been dealt with on the cross. On the Last day He will “save those who are eagerly waiting for Him” (28).   

In Spain, a father and his teenage son were at odds with each other.  One day the son ran away from home.  The boy’s father began searching throughout the country.  In a desperate attempt to find his rebellious son, the father put an ad in the newspaper that read, “Dear Paco, meet me in front of the newspaper office at noon.  I love you; all is forgiven.  Your father.”  At noon the next day, eight hundred Pacos showed up, seeking forgiveness and love from their fathers.

Are you a Paco?  We often wrestle with God, running away from our heavenly Father by doubting Him or putting conditions on His love, but our rebellion does not stop our Father.  It is God’s nature to seek and save lost people.  Here in His holy Word, He is calling you saying, “’once for all’ your sins are forgiven!”  Jesus, the Lamb of God, “has put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (26).  

So, listen to Jesus as He says to you, “Dear ‘Paco’ meet me in My Word.  I know the pain in your soul, but I have suffered body and soul for you.  I know your desperate loneliness, for I was forsaken by My Father for you.  I know you, ‘Paco.’  You were in My heart when I gave up My spirit on the cross.  ‘Once for all’ I have made atonement ‘to put away [your] sin’ (26).  I love you; all is forgiven!”

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