The Blood

Hebrews 9 4/2/98 12:05:09 PM Introduction: THE BARBER After twenty years of shaving himself every morning, a man in a small Southern town decided he had enough. He told his wife that he intended to let the local barber shave him each day. He put on his hat and coat and went to the barber shop which was owned by the pastor of the town Baptist Church. The barber's wife, Grace, was working, so she performed the task. Grace shaved him and sprayed him with lilac water and said, "That will be $20." The man thought the price was a bit high, but he paid the bill and went to work. The next morning the man looked in the mirror, and his face was as smooth as it had been when he left the barber shop the day before. Not bad, he thought. At least I don't need to get a shave every day. The next morning, the man's face was still smooth. Two weeks later, the man was still unable to find any trace of whiskers on his face. It was more than he could take, so he returned to the barber shop. "I thought $20 was high for a shave", he told the barber's wife, "but you must have done a great job. It's been two weeks and my whiskers still haven't started growing back." The expression on her face didn't even change, expecting his comment. She responded, "You were shaved by Grace. Once shaved, always shaved." We are proud of the fact that we are saved by grace. And we do cling tightly to the idea that once saved always saved. Our relationship with God is completely his doing. Sometimes I wonder if we havent grown so comfortable with Grace that we have forgotten the seriousness of our sin and the high cost of redemption. Jews knew the cost. God wouldnt let them forget. The whole Jewish system was built around the concept of sacrifice and atonement for sin. Every family was ordered to make sacrifices for their sins. They knew: Sin Brings Death. Billy Graham once said, Judaism is a bloody religion. Hes right. Look closely and you will see that the pages of the OT drip with blood. Everywhere there was sacrifice and blood. Lambs and bulls and sheep and goats and rams and birds were dying for the sins of man.

Two great Jewish feasts were built around sacrifice for sin. The most important occurred in the fall, The Day of Atonement. Tishri 10. Early October by our calendar. Hebrews 9: 1-7. Reference to Lev. 16:12 Day of Atonement. Once a year general atonement would be made for all people. The High Priest would take a bull and offer it for his sins. He would take the blood of that bull and with his finger, sprinkle it on the East end of the Mercy Seat. The Mercy Seat was the lid to the Ark of the Covenant. Two angels, kneeling, wing tips touching. Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark. That is the ark. The High Priest would take a pair of goats and bring them before the tent of meeting. Lots were cast. The goat which drew the lot was set apart. One goat would then be slaughtered and its blood, like the blood of the bull would be sprinkled on the Mercy Seat. Think about that. Only one person was allowed into the Holy Place where the Ark of God sat. The High Priest. And he could only enter once a year. No one was ever allowed to touch the ark. That means that no cleaning person ever went in there to tidy up. And yet year after year after year the High Priest sprinkled blood on the ark. After several thousand years it wasnt a shiny gold chest. It was covered in dried black blood. The priest would then ceremonially lay hands on the other goat and confess the sins of the people on that goat. That goat was released into the wilderness. It became known as the scapegoat. Where we get the idea of someone else suffering unjustly for our crime. The image was that God was removing the sins of the people. The Day of atonement was a bloody day. The second feast occurred in the spring. Passover. We celebrated it last Sunday. A lamb was slaughtered and the blood drained from its throat. That blood was then taken to the alter and the father would wipe it on the four corners. The significance is sacrifice for sin. Very bloody. Very ugly. Very brutal. It was a bloody religion. Why? Because God wanted them to see the serious consequences of sin! The wages of Sin is death. That fact has not changed. So why dont we offer sacrifices? Because Jesus already did!

Problem with the sacrificial system was that all of those bulls and goats and sheep couldnt really atone for sin. That is the point of Hebrews 9. Look at verse 9. So God did through His Son what we could never do for ourselves. He became our perfect sacrifice. Verses 11-14. Verse 22. When Jesus entered the city he was coming as the lamb of God to take away the sins of the world. The Lords entrance into Jerusalem is called Palm Sunday because they tossed Palm fawns in front of him as he entered. Everyone thought they were receiving the king of Israel. The lion of the tribe of Judah. But he wasnt coming as the lion. He was coming as the lamb. To offer himself for the sins of the world. His blood for yours. BECAUSE Hebrews 9:22. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Grace is free, but it wasnt cheap. It was purchased with blood. Lets look briefly at what the blood of Christ did for you.

will continue to sin God chooses to pardon my sin and declare me righteous. The term used by Paul to describe this is Imputed Righteousness. It is a banking term. He credits the righteousness to my eternal bank account. I am not righteous. God declared me so because of the redemption of his son. Purchased with blood. The blood pardons.

II.

The Blood Brings Purification.

Notice the terminology of Hebrews 9:13. Sanctify means, to make holy. Sanctification is the process where the imputed righteousness of Christ becomes the imparted righteousness of Christ. What God has declared becomes a reality. Another way of expressing it is Cleansing. Verse 14.. Interesting and odd sort of twist, blood cleanses. See that.

I.

The Blood Brings Pardon.

The word the bible used is redemption. What that means is God purchased the right to forgive your sins. The process he chooses to use is pardon. Tremendous difference between pardon and acquittal. Pardon implies guilt. God is saying, Even though you are guilty I chose to forgive you. Ill. . . In 48 BC Julius Caesar and his Roman legions entered Greece and defeated his adversary, Pompeii. After Pompeiis death a large casket fell into Caesars hands. The chest contained many letters written to Pompeii. No doubt many were from so-called friends of Caesar who had tried to betray him to his enemy. Had Caesar read those letters it is likely he would have been so angry that more killing would continue and many of those he would have to kill were trusted friends who had been false to him. Instead of opening the chest and reading the correspondence, Caesar ordered it destroyed. He chose to ignore the betrayals. God does the same thing with your sins because of the blood of Christ. It isnt that you didnt deserve it. But because of the death of His Son God declares it so. The theological term is Justification. And it doesnt mean Just as if I had never sinned. It means in spite of my sin, and in spite of the fact that I

Powerful metaphor because that is exactly what human blood does in the body. It cleanses. Three principle types of cells in the bloodstream. Each works to constantly purify your system. Erythrocytes Bring life giving oxygen and then picks up the carbon monoxide and exchanges it in the lungs. Leukocytes Destroy bacteria and produce antibodies to fight infection. Thrombocytes Clog up a hole in the system by producing clotting. Thus keeping out foreign invaders. So interesting that one of the things that Bible says is that blood purifies. Literally does that for the physical body. God knew that years before the scientists discovered it. But more importantly, the blood is a symbol for the purifying aspect of redemption that Jesus did on the cross. You are cleansed. Purified. This is both a one time event and a life long process

It is a one time event in that when you accept Christ by faith you are purified. Every sin is forgiven and you are clean.

So powerful for you who feel dirty. Jesus can make you clean. After that it becomes a life long process that happens every time we confess our sin and return to the Lord..

first born was taken. Tens of thousands were dying. Young and old. The cries went up in the night. The Jews braced themselves against the holocaust with only a smattering of blood and a promise, When he sees the blood he will pass over. And for every Jew who believed enough to smear the blood on their door God kept his word. Powerful image of the protection of God. One day He says that every person will stand before him on a great day of Judgement. Look at verse 27-28. When he sees the blood of Jesus applied to the life of the believer by an act of faith, he will pass over their sins. They will be protected by the blood. You didnt earn it. You cant lose it. We are kept by the power of God.

John 1:7 but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. [8] If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. [9] If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The Biblical illustration is Jesus washing the feet John 13. Reclining around the table were twenty four dirty feet. Jesus gets up from the supper and goes around washing feet. Humble, menial task. But the point he wanted to drive home was powerful. What I am doing you do not understand now, but one day you will. In other words this is a metaphor you will not understand until you know more about grace. Jesus got to Peter. Peter, embarrassed by the lesson. No way. You arent washing me. Then you have no part of me. Peter swinging from extremes, Then wash all of me. No, he who has bathed is clean, Just need to wash the feet. The point was profound. Jesus was purifying them at the point of contact with the world. Dirty world. Trudge through it. Accumulate patterns and habits. Must be a constant purifying. The blood of Christ brings that purification. The words of David still ring in my mind, Ps. 51, Wash me and I will be whiter than snow.

III.

The Blood Brings Protection.

Here is where we enjoy once saved always saved. If we are redeemed by the blood of the perfect sacrifice then we are also kept by him as well. Verse 12. He entered the Holy Place, Once for all. Here is where that second Jewish feast, the Passover, has such a profound meaning. Those frightened Jews huddled together in their homes in with no more protection than the blood of the lamb smeared on their doorpost. Outside gliding through the streets and backways the death angel was calling on every home in the land. In every situation the