A Blood Covenant
Leviticus 17:11, Hebrews 9:12-14, 22
Intro: Blood, scary isn’t it. Many people are so scared and overcome by blood that they even faint at the sight of it. I have seen many grown men cower at the sight of a needle or of blood. Part of that is because blood is what gives us life. Without the blood, we die.
. Without blood we die both physically and spiritually.
. I read somewhere that many people describe the Bible as a bloody book.
. Someone said cut the Bible anywhere you want to and it will bleed.
. In our politically correct society, Many of our churches are moving away from the atonement for sin by the blood of Jesus Christ.
. I hear things like, “the blood offends people” or that it is just so “gory that our children should not hear about all this blood and suffering”.
.Folks without the shedding of blood, there would be no Christianity.
. The shedding of blood is always the vehicle that God used to purify mankind from their sin.
. God has always had a blood covenant with mankind.
. From the beginning, From Genesis through The Revelation, blood is required and is used as a covenant between God and man.
. From the first sacrifice where the animals that were killed so that God could give coverings for mankind to the final sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, shedding his blood for the sins of mankind.
.This morning, we are going to have communion so that we can share in and remember this blood covenant that God has with mankind.
. Before we do that though, I want to take a few minutes and make sure that we all understand what the Bible tells us about this blood covenant.
.You see, there is power in the blood of the Lamb.
. We sang this song this morning as our heritage song.
. If we want to be free from the burden of sin, it will take the power of the blood.
. If you want to win the victory of evil in your life, there is power in the blood.
. God told the Jewish people this in Leviticus 17:11
. 11for the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the LORD. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible.
. The only way to be purified, to be made right with God is through the shedding of blood for a sacrifice to God.
.The writer of Hebrews has much to teach us about the power of the blood.
. The writer is explaining to us that Jesus is now the one and only High Priest. Jesus has entered the perfect tabernacle which is in Heaven and that He gives us access directly to God through what He has done.
.Look at Heb. 9: 12-14:
. 12With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.
13Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity.
14Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.
. The original blood covenant was the blood of goats and calves and lambs, not any more the writer states.
. With his own blood, not the blood of animals, Jesus Christ became our sacrifice for our sins so that we may be in a right relationship with God.
. The writer of Hebrews tells us that the first blood covenant was put into effect with the blood of an animal but now, that covenant is put into effect by the blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.
. The writer sums it all up for us in verse 22 here in Hebrews 9.
. 22In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.
. From the beginning, purification from sin came from the shedding of blood.
. Without the shedding of blood, there is No Forgiveness.
. Jesus Christ shed his blood for the forgiveness of our sin.
. All you have must do is believe this, believe that He shed his blood for you, and ask him to allow his blood to cover your sins and forgive you and place you in a right relationship with him.
. Have you done that this morning?
. We are about to have communion this morning. You should not partake of this ceremony if you have not put your faith and trust in the shed blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.
. If you have not done this, you can do that right now. If you truly believe that Jesus died, that He shed his blood so that you could you be in a right relationship with God. He shed his blood so you would not be punished for your sin.
. John writes in 3:16 that God loved you so much that he sent Jesus to die in your place. That if you believed in him, you will not be punished for your sin and that you will have eternal life.
. Have you done that this morning. If not, you can do that right now, right where you sit. Ask God to forgive you of your sin through the shed blood of Jesus and pledge to follow Jesus.
. The shedding of blood was so important to God that Jesus wanted us to have a way of remembering his shedding of blood.
. We do that by participating in communion or the Lords supper as it is called.
. Jesus knew that his time on earth was drawing to a close. He knew that He was about to be betrayed by one of his own and was going to be crucified.
. He wanted to give us a way to remember what He was doing for us.
. On Thursday, before his death on Friday, He gathered his disciples in a borrowed upper room.
, John tells us about the last lesson that Jesus taught them when He washed their feet, modeling for them and us that we are to be servants of others and then they entered into what we call communion.
. The Bible tells us that as they were gathered around the table, Jesus took a piece of bread and He broke it into pieces and gave some to all of the disciples. He blessed it and He said this.
. “Take this and eat it, this represents my body which will be beaten and killed for you.”
. Do this to remember the pain and suffering that I am about to go through for you.
. The prophet Isaiah had predicted that the one to save us, the Messiah would be beaten for us but by the beating, by the stripes that would be on his back, we would be healed.
. Distribute the bread
. Then Jesus took a cup of wine and He blessed it. He told the disciples to each take a drink from the cup.
. He told them that this wine represented his blood, confirming the blood covenant between man and God.
. Matthew reminds us in his account that there has always been a covenant of blood.
.Luke tells us that Jesus calls this a new covenant, one that takes the place of the blood of animals.
. Jesus was doing away with all of that and was signing a new covenant with his blood.
. Now the blood of Jesus Christ would be the sacrifice needed once and for all for the forgiveness of sin.
. Distribute the wine
. We were commanded by Jesus to celebrate and commemorate what He did by sharing in this communion.
. He told us to do this in remembrance of me.
. My prayer is that this communion this morning has stirred your hearts as we remember the blood covenant that God has made with all mankind through the blood of Jesus Christ.
*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
Sources: The Holy Bible, NLT
