Rev Kev – Cornerstone Baptist Church – Sunday AM, March 6, 2016
Hebrews 9:19-28 When Moses had spoken every
precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and
of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the
book, and all the people, 20 Saying, This is the blood of the
testament which God hath enjoined unto you. 21 Moreover he
sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. 22
And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding
of blood is no remission. 23 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. 24
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:
From Genesis to Revelation “The Blood”
is a central theme in expressing God’s love for man and the necessity of
a sacrifice to redeem man back to God. It
was offered…
·
To Cain as the only choice for obtaining
salvation.
·
To the Israelites in Egypt on the eve of the
Exodus.
·
To the High Priest as the yearly sacrifice
for the sins of the people.
·
Throughout the O.T. there is the anticipation
of a better sacrifice.
Throughout the OT God was painting a picture that would
ultimately reveal the magnificence of the “Better Sacrifice.” That Sacrifice would
be God’s own Son. It pleased God to surrender Him, according to the
prophet Isaiah (53). God, the Father,
knew that the atonement for sin could not take place without the offering of His
Blood on the Cross.
When God chose to pen the statement in Hebrews 9:22,
He used a word that would only be used one time in the Word of God. The phrase “shedding of blood.” God
needs for us to understand “without the shedding of His Blood, there is no
remission” (freedom, pardon, deliverance,
forgiveness, liberty).
The Cross was a grotesque, brutal and bloody event.
· Our Savior
was beaten and mocked; His beard was torn from his face.
· A crown of
thorns was forcibly beaten into His scalp until the barbs were lodged between
His skull and skin.
· He was
tortured and beaten with a Roman whip that tore His flesh and exposed His muscle,
bone and blood.
· I believe it
was Satan’s desire to kill Jesus before the Cross, but the Father’s plan required
the Blood of His Son be shed on the Cross to remind us of the awful price and
penalty of sin.
The Blood of Christ…
1.
PROVIDES FOR OUR POWER: Revelation 12:11 “..they overcame Satan
by the blood of the Lamb, and
by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
· It provides the power we need
to overcome Satan. To attempt to enter the arena of spiritual
warfare without the “Power of the Blood” is foolish and futile. “The Blood of
Christ” is the Life giving flow of true Christianity.
·
We often sing of its Power in our songs…
Would you be free from the burden of sin?
Would you o’er evil a victory win?
Would you be free from your passion and pride?
Come for a cleansing to Calvary’s tide;
Would you be whiter, much whiter than snow?
Sin stains are lost in its life giving flow.
There’s
wonderful power in the blood.
2.
PROVIDES FOR OUR PURGING: Hebrews 9:14 How much more shall the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to
God, purge your conscience from dead works
to serve the living God?
·
By
His Blood we are presented as clean before our Father.
Purge [Gr.
kathakizo] make clean.
Conscience [Gr. suneidesis]
that faculty by which we apprehend the will of God, as that which is designed
to govern our lives.
3.
PROVIDES FOR OUR PURPOSE: It’s the Blood of Jesus Christ that has provided us
with access to God. Once we realize this, it becomes our focus and message to a
lost and dying world.
Hebrews 9:12-14 ..by his own
blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. 13 For if the blood of bulls and of
goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the
purifying of the flesh: 14 How much more shall the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God,
purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God?
4.
PROVIDES FOR OUR PEACE: Colossians 1:19-21 For it pleased the Father that in him should
all fulness dwell; 20 And, having
made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all
things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things
in heaven. 21
And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
yet now hath he reconciled.
· When you trust Jesus as your
Savior, you become reconciled to God and are commissioned as a peacemaker in your world of influence.
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world
giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be
afraid. [16:33] These things I have spoken unto you, that in
me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good
cheer; I have overcome the world. [20:19]
Peace be unto you… 21 Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so
send I you. 26…then came
Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto
you.
·
It is God’s will that you experience Peace.
Romans 14:19 Follow after the things
which make for peace.
1 Corinthians 7:15 For God has called us to
peace.
2 Corinthians 13:11 Live in peace.
Colossians 3:15 Let the peace of God rule in your hearts…
5.
PROVIDES FOR OUR PROPITIATION: Romans 3:24-26 Being justified freely by his grace through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a
propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the
remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26
To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and
the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
·
Propitiate (Websters) To
win or regain the good will of; appease or conciliate.
· Propitiate (Vines) The
cover of the ark of the covenant, signifies the Propitiatory, so called on
account of the expiation made once a year on the great Day of Atonement.
· Jesus ascended into Heaven to present His
Blood as an offering before Almighty God on the Mercy Seat to make the
Propitiation; So that we can have daily access to the Holy of Holies, which we
now have in Christ Jesus through His Blood.
The Blood of Christ…(Power, Purging, Purpose, Peace,
Propitiation)
6.
PROVIDES FOR OUR PURCHASE: Acts 20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over
the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
· He has redeemed us and paid the
price with His own Blood. The debt that was owed could only be paid
with a Sinless Atonement, and only God’s Son could meet the requirements of a
Sinless Sacrifice.
· His Blood was the only standard
of exchange that a Holy God could accept for the sins of a lost world. And He freely
chose to do so while we were still yet enemies of God, so that we might be
ransomed as the sons of God.
CONCLUSION: It’s in the Blood!
John 1:7 ..the blood of Jesus Christ his Son
cleanseth us from all sin.
The day is over
and you are driving home. You turn on your radio. You hear a news report about
a town in India where some villagers have died suddenly, strangely, of a flu
that has never been seen before. It's not influenza, but three or four
villagers are dead. The Center for
Disease Control is sending some doctors to investigate it. You don't think
much about it, but on Sunday, coming home from church, you hear another radio
spot. Only they say it's not few villagers, its 3000 in a remote area of India.
That night CNN runs a story saying doctors from The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta are puzzled by this
mysterious flu strain that has never been seen before.
By Monday morning
it's the lead story and it's not just India any longer; it's Pakistan, Afghanistan,
Iran, and before you know it, you're hearing this story everywhere. They are
calling it "the mystery flu". The President has called upon the
nation to pray. But everyone is wondering, "How are we going to contain
it?" That's when the President of France makes an announcement that shocks
all of Europe. He is closing their borders. No flights from India, Pakistan, or
any of the countries where this flu has been found.
That night you're
watching CNN before going to bed. Your jaw hits your chest when a weeping woman
is translated from a French news program into English: "There's a man
lying in a hospital in Paris dying of the mystery flu." It has come to
Europe. Panic strikes. As best they can tell, once you get it, you
have it for a week and you don't know it. After four days of unbelievable
agony, you die.
Britain closes
its borders, but it's too late -
it's in South Hampton, Liverpool, North Hampton, then all of London.
Tuesday morning
the President of the United States makes the following announcement: "Due
to a national security risk, all flights to and from Europe and Asia have been
canceled. If your loved ones are overseas, I'm sorry.
They cannot come
back until we find a cure for this epidemic."
Within four days
our nation has been plunged into an debilitating fear. People are selling
little masks to cover their face. People are asking what will happen if it
comes to this country.
On a Wednesday
night you are at a church prayer meeting when somebody runs in from the parking
lot and says, "Turn on a radio." While the church listens to a radio
with a microphone stuck up to it, the announcement is made, "Two women are
lying in a Long Island hospital dying from the mystery flu."
Within days it
seems, the epidemic just sweeps across the country. People are working around
the clock trying to find an antidote. Nothing is working, California, Oregon,
Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts; the disease is spreading. It's as though it's
just sweeping in from all borders.
Then,
wonderfully, all of a sudden some good news comes. The genetic code has been
broken. A cure can be found. A vaccine can be produced. It's going to take the
blood of somebody who hasn't been infected, and so, all through the Midwest,
through all channels of The Emergency
Broadcasting System, people everywhere are asked to go to your local
hospital and have your blood type taken. That's all that is asked.
When you and your
family get to the hospital late Friday night, there is a long line, and there
are nurses and doctors coming out and pricking fingers and taking blood and
putting labels on vials. Your wife and your kids are with you, and they take
your blood type and they say, "Wait here in the parking lot and if we don't
call your name in an hour, you can go home."
You stand around
scared with your neighbors, wondering what in the world is going on, and
whether or not this is the end of the world. Suddenly a doctor comes running
out of the hospital yelling a name and waving a clipboard.
What did he say?
He yells it again! Your son tugs on your jacket and says, "Daddy, that's
me."
Before you know
it, they have taken your son. "Wait a minute, hold it!"
They say,
"It's okay, his blood is what we have been looking for. We want to make
sure he doesn't have the disease. We think he has got the right type.”
Five tense
minutes later, out come the doctors and nurses, crying and hugging one another
– some are even laughing. It's the first time you have seen anybody laugh in a
week. An older doctor walks up to you and says, "Thank you, sir. Your
son's blood type is perfect. It's clean, it’s pure, and we can make the vaccine
from it." As the word begins to spread all across that parking lot, people
are praying and laughing and crying.
But then the
gray-haired doctor pulls you and your wife aside and says, "May we speak
privately with you for a moment? We didn't realize that the donor would be a child
and we need, . . . we need you to sign a consent form." You begin to sign
and then you see that the number of pints of blood to be taken is empty.
"H-h-h-how many pints?" That is when the doctor’s smile fades and he
says, "We had no idea it would be a little child. We weren't prepared… We
need it all!" The father stammers, "But, but..." "You don't
understand. We are talking about saving the world here - Please sign. We, we need it all,.. every
bit!" "Can you sign? Will you sign?"
In silence, with
tears streaming down your face -
you do the unimaginable and give your son to save the world. Then they ask,
"Would you like to have a moment with him before we begin?"
Could you do that? Could you
walk back to that room where your child sits on a table saying, "Mom, Dad,
What's going on?" Could you take his hand and say, "Son, your mother
and I love you, and we would never ever let anything happen to you that didn't
just have to be. Do you understand that?" And when the doctor comes back in
and says, "I'm sorry, we've got to get started. People all over the world
are dying."
Could you leave? Could
you walk out while he is saying, "Dad?
Mom? Why? why are you leaving me?
Where are you going?"
The next week,
when they have a ceremony to honor your son, some folks sleep through it; and
some folks don't even come because they would rather go to the lake; and some
folks come with a hollow smile and just pretend to care. Would you want to jump
up and say, "MY SON DIED! DON'T YOU
CARE?"
Is that what God wants to say?
"MY SON DIED! DON'T YOU CARE?"
1 Peter 1:18-19
...ye were not redeemed with corruptible
things, as silver and gold,... But with the
precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
Hebrews 10:29
Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye,
shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and
hath counted the blood of the covenant,
wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the
Spirit of grace?
─Author
Unknown
Edited
by Kevin Burden
