Power in the Blood
Hebrews 9:11-15
One of the great truths of the bible is THE POWER IN THE BLOOD
However, we live in a society that does not understand the blood and sees it as a horrible, archaic and barbaric.
If you preach the Angel of Death that delivered Israel by killing the first born… or the OT sacrificial system… they rebel against the thought of the inhumanity.
So we come to the question today… Why is Christianity such a bloody religion?
First understand that we are a product of our society and our society is far removed from the agrarian society of the bible.
In that society people were not squeamish about blood.
It was a natural part of life since they had to kill and butcher their own meat.
Also, because warfare was hand to hand and very personal… people were accustomed to seeing human blood spilled.
There were no hospitals to keep blood neat and isolated from everyday life.
So… people in bible times were not repulsed by the sight or thought of blood.
For that reason, God was able to use blood and the shedding of blood as more of a teaching aid.
It was not socially unacceptable to kill animals… it was natural.
When did it start?
In the Garden… In the first two chapters of the Bible you read the creation of the universe.
And in chapter 3, IMMEDIATELY after the creation of man and woman… you have SIN!
Humanity was marred, his relationship with his creator/God was broken, his happiness was destroyed and his future was doomed.
What did God do? He began the process of restoring man to himself, restoring his happiness and giving him an eternal future.
How? BLOOD! God shed innocent blood to cover the sin.
Notice what man (Adam and Eve) did… they HID their sin
Man still does that today
They hide their sin in denial
They hide their sin with excuses
They hide their sin by running away
From whom did they hide their sin?
From God… not possible
From self… to assuage the guilt
What did God do?
He dealt with their sin in a more permanent way
HE SHED THE BLOOD OF INNOCENT ANIMALS
From the beginning we see the principle:
The wages of sin is death… (Rm 6:23)
“Without the shedding of blood there is no remission” (Heb 9:22)
From there we begin the BLOODY TRAIL of the Gospel
You can trace the trail throughout the Old and New Testaments
The next stop on the trail is in Genesis 22 when God tests Abraham by commanding him to kill his only son, Isaac.
God delivers Isaac, but he delivers him through the blood of the lamb, which God provided.
God provided a lamb, whose head was caught in the thorns. That lamb died so Isaac could live.
That was a witness to Jesus… the Lamb of God, the only son of God, who wore a crown of thorns, and died so we could live.
Abraham learned the lesson of the bloody trail
The next stop on the trail is in Exodus 12… the Passover
God tells his people to kill an animal and paint the doorposts and the lentil with the blood and all who are inside will be safe from the death angel.
It was a night of horror and mourning as hundreds and thousands of first born sons died because they were not protected by the blood.
But God confirmed the truth of the blood…
Sin brings death
The only cure for the sin is the blood
The next stop on the trail is Isaiah 1:10-17 where the sacrifice has become so ritualistic that it has lost its meaning, its power and it became a burden to God rather than a joy.
Israel had become a ritual religion… not a vital relationship with their God, and God was tired of their hypocritical offerings
The blood was being shed in rivers but having no effect
It was unfulfilling to God because He had His eyes on a better sacrifice, a better Lamb that would put an end to the gushing of ritualistic, meaningless sacrifice.
Then one day, when the time was just right… maybe all the ritual God could handle… God offered the perfect sacrifice… the sacrifice to end all sacrifices… His only begotten Son, Jesus came to die on the cross as the eternal and only sacrifice for sin.
The OT sacrifice could not do the trick… could not bring satisfaction to man or to God
Man was dissatisfied because they had to do it over and over
God was not satisfied because it never truly satisfied His righteousness
The only person satisfied was SATAN… people still lost
Satan knew the truth of scripture… the wages of sin is death
He gloried in it… he loved it
Every time a soul died and had to face eternity…
In rushed Satan… screaming “He’s mine” and holding up his deed
When we sin, it is equivalent of giving our “deed” the title to our life, to Satan
Satan would come to the judgment seat with his “pink slips” and claim the soul for his own
He would point to the scales of justice to all the sins we have committed and say… HE’S MINE
Abraham, Moses, David… they would all claim… “but we offered sacrifices for those sins.”
But the sacrifice was only good for the sins of the past unless a person died immediately after the sacrifice they would sin again and could not be forgiven til next year.
Everyone would die with unforgiven sin.
Satan would point out all the sins since the last sacrifice.
And God was powerless to say or do anything because it was His own law that the wages of sin is death.
Satan had the “pink slip” and even God could not rip them out of his hand because of God’s righteousness
So Satan would be there waving his slips, claiming souls for his own
There was a dark, cold, hopeless feeling… all was lost
Satan Laughed!!!!
But then… BAM… the laughter of Satan stopped
The hair stood up on the back of Satan’s neck
Something had changed… something was wrong
The darkness was pierced by a ray of light
The cold was being replaced by warmth
Hopelessness was giving way to hope
Satan slowly turned to face the scales, His best weapon
They had always tilted his way… under the weight of sin
Now they were tilting the other way…. Tilting God’s way
And there on the other side he saw something that made his blood freeze and his face contort in horror….
BLOOD… perfect sinless BLOOD
The only thing that could mess up his plan
The only thing that could save people from sin
Satan recognized the blood as the perfect sinless blood of Jesus
He knew Jesus was perfect and sinless
Satan’s arms dropped to his side… and his grip on the “pink slips” loosened and they fell to the ground
The gig was up, his triumph turned to defeat, all was lost for SATAN
Jesus walks over and picks up the pink slips and says to those standing in judgment… “COME”
The souls of millions who had died under the old sacrifice
Those who believed, who sacrificed,
But for whom the sacrifice was insufficient
They came forward, set free from their chains
Jesus took the pink slips and handed them to His Father and said,
“IT IS FINISHED”
Why the Blood? Why not some other way?
Because only the blood can bring REMISSION
Hebrews 9:22
Hebrews 10:18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
Hebrews 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
Because only the blood can bring REDEMPTION
1 Peter 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
1 Peter 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
Because only the blood can bring TRANSFORMATION
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?
Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Because only the blood can bring ETERNAL LIFE
John 3:16
Because only the blood can bring VICTORY
Colossians 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
Colossians 1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
So what will you rely on... WHAT WILL YOU CLAIM when you face the judgment?
Will you claim you have not sinned?
Will you claim your goodness?
Will you claim your good deeds?
Will you claim your religion?
OR WILL YOU CLAIM THE BLOOD OF JESUS?
I have a powerpoint for this sermon rhpendleton57@gmail.com
