Summary: It seems that in the church today we hear less and less about the blood of Christ, why it was necessary for Him to die and what it means to our eternal destiny.

This past Thursday was the Fourth of July, Independence Day in the old US of A! Fireworks! Parades! A National Holiday! Independence from the will and domination of an earthly king!

But, what was the price of this freedom. The lives of countless people. The shedding of blood for the cause of freedom and we celebrate this freedom partly because freedom is worth celebrating and partly to honor the unimaginably high cost of the blood that was shed for the high cost of freedom. As the saying goes, “Freedom isn’t free.”

Blood was shed for your freedom and for mine.

When I was a young person going to church we sang many songs about the blood of Jesus, we heard many sermons about the blood of Jesus. We heard many testimonies were given about the blood of Jesus.

You don’t hear much about the blood of Jesus any more in some churches; it has become passé.

Why do you suppose it was so important then? (We’ll put off speculating why it isn’t considered so important today.)

In the OT book of Leviticus it specifies offerings for certain events and for specific sins; all of the sin offerings require the shedding of blood.

So, what kind of sins did we humans go and get ourselves involved in.

There’s a little listing found in

Proverbs 6:16-19

“There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes …

“feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.”

Just listen to this passage from

Romans 1:18-32 (NLT)

“But God shows His anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. They know the truth about God because He has made it obvious to them.

“For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see His invisible qualities - His eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

“Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship Him as God or even give Him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.

“Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.

“So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie.

“So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator Himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires.

“Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other.

“Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.

“Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, He abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done.

“Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful.

“They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy.

“They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.”

That was written 2,000 years ago to the Christians who were living in the pagan Roman culture. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it. Sounds like current American culture.

What a horrible cesspool of filth and despair! Is there any escape??

Hebrews 9:22b (ESV) says,

“Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

Romans 6:23a says,

“For the wages of sin is death …”

Oh, no! We’re doomed! We are slaves to sin with no hope of escape and the end of sin is death! But, wait, there’s more ….

But Romans 6:23b says,

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

How was this gift purchased?

God did not create this gift like He created everything else from nothing.

God did not go to the salvation gift thrift store with a coupon and get it for free or steal it.

God the Father purchased this gift of eternal life for you and for me with the shed blood of His son on the cross of Calvary.

That is why we can sing:

There is a fountain filled with blood

Drawn from Immanuel's veins

And sinners plunged beneath that flood

Lose all their guilty stains, Lose all their guilty stains, Lose all their guilty stains

And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains

Sinners! That’s what all of us were before we came to Christ. Living in sin. Reveling in sin. Destroying ourselves in sin. Reaping the wages of sin. Death, death, death!

Romans 5:8 says,

“But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Christ died for me and Christ died for you so that we could have our guilty stains washed away!

That’s for me.

That’s for you.

That’s for our family members.

That’s for our co-workers.

That’s for the people we stand in line with at the grocery store. That’s for the people driving past the church this morning.

Is that fountain filled with the blood of Christ deep enough for me???????? Is it enough for my sins?!?!?

You bet it is!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus

Vast unmeasured boundless free

Rolling as a mighty ocean

In its fullness over me

Underneath me all around me

Is the current of Thy love

Leading onward leading homeward

To my glorious rest above

That deep, deep love of Jesus for you and for me is EXACTLY why Jesus shed His blood to redeem us to Himself.

The blood of Jesus cleanses us from sin! Amen????

Would you be free from your burden of sin? There's power in the blood, power in the blood! Would you o'er evil a victory win?

There's wonderful power in the blood

Remember back at the beginning when we were talking about how the shedding of the blood of many Americans brought us freedom? Blood that was shed fighting against enemies who hated us and wanted to rule over us?

Now, just try to imagine this …

We know that many in the Muslim dominated world of the middle east hate us. They refer to us as The Great Satan. They hate our way of life. They hate the fact that most of us do not bow before their god. Because of that many of them believe that they are doing a service to their god if they kill as many of us “infidels” as possible.

It is a pure, unmitigated hatred.

Suppose we sent all of the power of all of our armed forces against all of the Muslim nations in that area. We most likely could annihilate all of them. Just sweep through each country with brutal force leaving no one alive. But, instead just suppose we sent all of our armed forces over there and after explaining to them what we believe about freedom and about the one and only true God we surrendered to them and allowed them kill all of us. Allowing them to brutally slaughter all of the members of our armed forces, letting them know that we were shedding our blood in order to redeem their lives on earth and throughout eternity.

That would be crazy, wouldn’t it? Isn’t that what God the Father did for us? Sending His one and only Son into the camp of His enemies and allowing them to kill Him? The Father could have wiped all of them out with one order given from His heavenly throne, but, He didn’t. Instead He sent His only Son to suffer and die and shed His precious blood for our salvation. For the salvation of anyone who would turn to Him in confession and repentance and asking for forgiveness.

I know it sounds crazy but that’s exactly what God did.

Are you still an enemy of God, living in misery because of your sins?

Here’s the question we all need to ask ourselves:

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus!

What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus!

O precious is the flow - That makes me white as snow

No other fount I know - Nothing but the blood of Jesus!

Communion

Benediction:

Hebrews 13:20-21

“Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing His will, and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”