Let me read for you from To start
this morning's service our Bible study time. Let me read for you
from Zechariah chapter 13 Just one verse I want to read verse
one there. It says in that day Speaking
of a day to come there shall be a fountain I pictured one
of those fountains of Kathy and I saw when we were over in, I
don't know, France or whatever it was over there in the Mediterranean.
Man, they have some fountains over there. Just glamorous. Nothing, nothing is more glamorous
than God himself. He is the epitome of the word
majesty. A fountain opened to the house
of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for
uncleanness. Isn't that wonderful? If you're
a sinner, if God has shown you what you are before the almighty,
all-holy, all-sovereign God, and you see yourself as a sinner,
that is great news, isn't it? That's the gospel. Well, we continue
in our studies in the book of Hebrews. If you'd like to join
me, we are in Hebrews chapter 9. And while you're turning there,
I want to remind and give our dear visitors here an opportunity
to catch up with us just a little bit. The book of Hebrews is all
about Jesus Christ, a better covenant, a better tabernacle,
as we looked last week, a better priest, a better sacrifice, everything
about the book of Hebrews points us to the better, our Lord and
Savior Christ Jesus. And it's no different in this
morning either. We're going to be looking at a sacrifice this
morning. We're in chapter 9, considering verses 13 and 17. And before we look into those
verses, I want to share with you, I like to bring out sometimes,
there are so many people who write statements better than
I do. Robert Hawker is one. He has
a way with words that just bless my soul. And Don Fortner does
as well. He writes this. He says, the
word of God has a scarlet thread running through it. And we know
that because we see right in the beginning of God's word in
chapter 3, Genesis chapter 3, he talks to us about the sacrifice
of the animal. He doesn't tell us which animal,
but he sacrificed an animal to have the skins so that he might
cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve. So Don says, he says, all
the way through, there is a scarlet thread, like the cord that hung
down from Rahab's window. That scarlet thread by which
the 66 books of inspiration is bound together, which unifies
everything written upon the pages of inspiration, is the blood,
the precious blood of Christ. Folks. if it wasn't for his blood. If
he had not in love manifested himself in the flesh, then there'd
be no payment for sin. And we'd be lost. We'd be lost
in our own anger. Do you catch the grace in that? It's only by God's... You can sum everything up In
the word substitution, that's correct, but substitution of
what? The payment for sins. By grace, God became a man. By grace, there was a covenant
made between the great three and one before the world ever
was. By grace, the Lord Jesus came and established the law. Fulfilled every jot, every talisman. By grace, Our Lord laid down
his life for you and I. We're saved by what? By grace. What a word for our Savior, the
Lord Jesus. Grace. He is grace. Scriptures consistently speak
about the blood. It's written in the book of the
law over Leviticus 1711. Listen to this. It says, the
life of the flesh is in the blood. The life of the flesh, the very
life that the Lord Jesus talks about. He has the authority to
give over there in John chapter 17. He told Moses, the blood shall
be to you for a token, a sign. A sign of what? A sign of life. What was it when the angel of
death went through Egypt, through the camp of Israel? What was it when the angel of
death went through that stopped the angel of death from taking
the firstborn? What was it? It was the blood.
Now, it's just like the table of remembrance, which we're going
to observe today after our afternoon meal. It's just like that. It
didn't save anybody. But it was a picture of the precious
blood of Christ. That's what Don is talking about
that is spread throughout all of the book of God as a fine
thread, weaved through it and holding it together. That's what
the Lord Jesus expounded on with those two men on the road to
Emmaus. What are the things concerning Christ? Number one? He's God in the flesh. Number two, he manifests himself
as a humble servant in the flesh. Number three, he shed his own
precious blood. See the blood? See how it's intertwined
all the way through the Word of God? I love singing about
it, that fountain, that great fountain. He said to Moses, he said, when
I see the blood, I will pass over you. When I see the blood
of my son on the doorpost that I put on your doorpost of your
heart, I will pass over you. And every one of us were laying
in our own filth and blood when the Lord passed by and said,
live. You remember that day? I pray the Lord will never let
me forget that day. That was the day when I heard the gospel
for the first time. When God opened up these scriptures,
and I heard about one who deserves to be called God. When our Lord instituted the
Lord's Supper, He took the cup of wine and He held it before
His disciples and He said, these words, this is the blood of the
New Testament shed for many for the remission of sins. In Hebrews
9, 22, we read these words, without shedding of blood is no remission. That makes the blood a pretty
important matter, doesn't it? Makes it of great importance,
doesn't it? In Genesis 3, I spoke of that
a moment ago, the Lord shed blood. He clothed Adam and Eve in the
skins of that animal. A picture of the blood of Christ. And that blood of Christ speaks
of his sacrifice of himself. Look with me, if you would, over
at Genesis chapter 22. Hold your place in Hebrew. We're
going to come back to it. Look over at Genesis chapter
22 for just a moment. And I'm going to read a couple
of verses there. Genesis chapter 22. In Genesis chapter 22 we read
in verse 7, And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father. Now remember,
the Lord had instructed Abraham to take his son Isaac, his only
son, the Lord God said. His only son. Take thy son Isaac. and take him up unto a mount,
and sacrifice him. And Isaac spake unto Abraham
his father, and he said, my father. And he said, here am I, my son.
And he said, behold the fire and the wood. But where is the
lamb for the burnt offering? And Abraham said, my son, God
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. Who is the
lamb, the spotless lamb of God, who was slain and was seen as
the spotless lamb of God before the world ever was? That's the
Lord Jesus. We're talking about the blood of Christ. Back in our text, most of today's preachers They
say as little as possible about the blood. They spend their whole
time talking about how Jesus loves everybody if you'll just
come to him. If you'll just do this. He loves
you so much. They spend a lot of time telling
about the love of God and they don't talk about the blood of
God. Folks, somebody has to pay the
price. If you're not in Christ, then
you'll be standing before God in the day of judgment, and you'll
be answering. You'll be answering for everything
you've done, everything you've thought. Those who are in Christ, who
is the one who has gone to the cross and paid the price that
you and I deserve, The one who has gone as our substitute, our
scapegoat, those who are in him, come thou faithful servant and
enter into the joy of the Lord. They don't want to talk about
the blood. They have become so sophisticated, so smart, so knowledgeable,
we don't want to talk about the blood. That will draw people
away. I've never heard this from another,
but Pastor Gene who shared this with us, and some of you may
have heard this from him as well. There have been ministers who
said, I can't preach from Romans chapter 9. What do you mean you
can't preach from Romans chapter 9? People will get up and walk
out. People will leave. What? We don't
want to hear that stuff. It's all about love. It is all
about love. It is all about love. But it's
about His love for us and what He's done for us. And if you
don't tell us, if you don't tell someone what the Lord Jesus has
done for them, then you're not telling them about His love.
You're telling them about something that you think may be His love. They don't want to talk about
it. But the truth is still this. No matter what they want. without
the shedding of blood is no remission. Period. Nothing is more important,
nothing is more precious than our Savior's blood. Look over
Hebrews 9 verse 12. Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by His own blood He entered once. One time. That's the better sacrifice,
folks. Those guys who sacrificed the
blood of bulls and goats, they had to go in once every year.
And they had to keep going on. And then when they died, somebody
else stepped up to the plate and did it for them. But it had
to go on every year. Christ. Our better sacrifice had to do
it once. One time. He entered once into
the holiest, the holy place, that's when we talked about that
last week, the tabernacle. Having obtained, did you catch
that? That word obtained, past tense,
having obtained eternal redemption for us. Hold your place there
and turn over to 1 Peter chapter 1. Go to the right. 1 Peter chapter 1. Beginning at verse 18, we read
these words, for as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed
with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversations
received by the tradition from your fathers, but with the precious
blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Folks, there was no sin in our
Lord and Savior. He knew no sin. There was no
guile in his mouth. Precious blood of Christ is a
lamb without blemish and without spot who verily was foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these
last times for you. Verse 21, who by Him, pay attention, who by Him, by
the Lord Jesus, do believe in God, that raised Him up from
the dead and gave Him glory. Why? That your faith and hope
might be in God. You can add this on and I don't
think it would be changing God's word and not of you. Your faith and hope would be
in God and God alone and nothing of you. The shedding of his precious
blood, go back to our text there in Hebrews if you would, the
shedding of his precious blood was and is absolutely essential
to the saving of our souls. Are you washed? Are you washed
in the blood, the soul-cleansing blood? So let us ever, ever cherish
the blood of Christ as that which is precious above all things. That blood is effectual. Look
here at verses 13 and 14 of Hebrews chapter 9. For if the blood of bulls and
goats and ashes and a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifyeth
the purifying of the flesh, if that were so, how much more,
it says in verse 14, shall the blood of Christ, who through
the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge. That means clean. That means
completely removed. Purge your conscience from dead
works to serve the living God. The blood of bulls and goats
could never take away sins. Isn't that what we read? Turn
over one page to the right. Look at Hebrews 10 verse 4. Isn't
that what we're being told over there? For it is not possible. Hebrews 10 verse 4. For it is
not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take
away sins. The animal sacrifice were given
as types, just as we are given a type of salvation. Even coming to the waters of
baptism don't save you, but it's a type of the one who died, was
buried, and arose again. Aren't you thankful that it didn't
stop right there after buried? We talked about this a little
bit in the last, what was it, last week was so-called Easter?
Yeah, we talked about it a little bit about then, huh? Was the
sacrifice of Christ sufficient? You bet it was. I think I used
the words, darn toot. You know, some people, I just,
I don't mean to. They think I'm born and raised
in Tennessee or something. Darn tootin' it was. Absolutely. That's our only hope. Is that
the blood was efficient to cover our sins. And there's plenty
of that. Plenty of those sins it needs
to cover. You know the greatest thing that
I can think of if the Lord was to take me home today? Be this. I wouldn't sin anymore. I'd be in His presence perfect,
sinless as He is. Isn't that our greatest burden
here on this world? I asked this question to you
folks just a couple weeks back. Do your sins burden you now?
You better pray they do. You better pray they do. Our Lord's blood was affectionate.
How much better shall the blood of Christ, the blood of our spotless,
sinless Christ that was offered to God by the Holy Spirit cleanse
us and purify our souls. The blood of Christ is effectually
to satisfy the wrath of God's justice. By it our sins have
been put away, therefore looking to and trusting in our conscience condemns us no more. Isn't that what it says in Romans
chapter 8 verse 1? Let me read that for you. Romans
chapter 8 verse 1. Some pastors got such great memories,
they can quote it without looking at it. It says, therefore, that word
is, is it actually there? I'm not sure if that word there
is supposed to be there or not either. It looks like it's in
italics as well. Let's just read it this way,
therefore, now, Therefore now, no condemnation. To who? To them. Does election stand in scriptures?
Is election part of God's gospel to his people? Them. who walk not after them which
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the spirit." Another one, if you would, turn over one more
page to the right in my Bible, verse 33 of that same chapter,
"...who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect." There
you go. That doesn't get any more clear
than that. Election stands, folks. There is therefore now no condemnation. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also make intercession
for us. Look at another one with me,
if you would. Turn over to 1 John. We'll look at a couple of verses
over there. 1 John, chapter 1. That's just the other side of
Peter's two letters, 1 John. They're very quick to pass over
if you're not careful. I pass over them quite a bit
sometimes, just because they're so small. But over in 1 John,
chapter 1, beginning at verse 7, we read these words, But if
ye walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ
is his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have
no sin, we deceive ourselves. You know how many people want
to preach that subject of progressive sanctification? You know what
that means to the world today? Now it meant something different
to the Old Testaments or to the old saints of yesterday. I would
say to many from Henry Mahan going back, because he used that
phrase. But he used it properly, talking about growing in grace
and in the knowledge. Not growing in being better,
but growing in knowing God's grace to you. But the world wants
to teach that subject today as we get better. If you accept
Christ into your life, you're going to be a better person.
If you're a sinner, you know that's not true. If anything,
we see ourselves worse and worse. We're like the apostle who says,
I must decrease. And he, my Savior, must decrease. If you say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess
our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned,
we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. There's a cause. There's a cause that our Lord
and Savior had to come. A cause is a necessity for a
great sacrifice, and that sacrifice is Christ. The cause is Adam's
nakedness of rebellion. The cause was just this, that
God's covenant of grace would not come to simple men without
a blood atonement. We could not have been made righteous
apart from the sacrifice of God's own Son in our stead. There on Calvary, turn over to
Galatians chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2. Go to the
right just before you get to Ephesians. Galatians chapter
2. And look with me at a couple
verses there. We'll begin verse 21 of chapter 2. Verse 21 of
chapter 2. I do not frustrate the grace
of God, writes Paul. For if the righteousness come
by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." Folks, if there was
any way that man, man himself, could commit anything in the
law, if he could be saved from any of that, then what was the
purpose for Christ to come to this world? There was a cause. He had to come. He had to sacrifice
himself. to pay for those sins, to make
atonement for us, because we can't do it ourselves. There
was a cause. Look over, if you would, at Galatians
3. Look at Galatians chapter 3,
verse 21. Is the law then against the promise
of God? God forbid for if there had been
a law given which could have given life Verily righteousness
should have been by the law But it couldn't There was a cause
our Lord came here cause Look at Hebrews 9 verse 15 through
17 back in our text of Hebrews 9 And for this cause, he is the
mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the
redemption of the transgressions that were under the First Testament,
they which are called, did you catch that? They which are called
might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where
a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of
a tester, For a testament is a force after
men are dead. Otherwise it is no strength at
all while the tester liveth. Our God through the Holy Spirit
shows us that the Old Testament believers were redeemed by the
death of Christ in exactly the same manner, the same way that
you and I are. And for the same reason. For
Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. Justice must
be satisfied before mercy can be given, and the only one by
whom redemption can come is by the God-man, our mediator, as
we have read in the past few lessons. Christ Jesus, of whom
all the prophets spoke of. Look over at Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10. All the old
prophets In verse 43 we read these words,
To him give all the prophets witness that through his name,
whosoever believeth in him shall receive the remission of sin. So let's talk now about that
promise that was received. Those who are called, as we read
there in Hebrews 9.15, they received the promise of eternal salvation.
our internal inheritance of grace, found only in Christ Jesus and
only by faith. Our faith does not in any way
secure the inheritance, it simply receives what God our Father
has secured for us by his purpose and his promise in eternity in
his son, the Lord Jesus. In fact, faith in Christ is itself
a part of that inheritance. Faith doesn't save you, but believing
the one who has saved you is part of that inheritance that
we've been promised to receive. You believe right now. You say,
I believe. I know. I know. We're just like
that poor man who cried out to the Lord, I believe. Lord, help
thou my unbelief, because I know how weak I am in my belief. I don't understand some things
about God's Word. My mind can't comprehend how
God became a man. But I believe it. I don't understand how God, the
Father, made His Son sin, who knew no sin. I've had that explained
to me over and over again by men that I revere greatly. But I'm not ashamed to tell you
I don't understand it. But I believe it. I believe it. It's part of my inheritance.
I see that because I believe, God has been gracious to me.
I remember a time when I didn't believe. Do you? We do, don't we? The Lord spoke
to her a long time ago, folks, and she remembers well what it
was to not believe. Gene Harmon. The Lord spoke to
him over 40-something years ago, and he remembers the day that
the Lord spoke to him and gave him the gift of faith. just as
well as he does today. I've heard Mike Lovelace tell
the testimony of that day over and over again. I never get tired
of hearing it. The very heart of the gospel
is the finished work of our Savior at Calvary. Perfect, particular,
effectual redemption. Limited atonement. We believe
according to the Holy Scriptures that the sin-atoning death of
our Savior is of infinite merit. It's more precious, it's more
valuable than anything we could have of this world. I know that
this glorious gospel, this doctrine, this teaching is offensive to
unbelieving men. It's offensive to all who wish
to make man a co-savior with Christ, but that only demonstrates
to me the fact of this, that the cross of Christ is still
an offense in today's world to man. Why does that matter? It means that God still has some
people to save. I forget who I was reading something
about here just the other day. About prayer. It's so simple. Our Lord gives us the ability
to speak to Him. It's an attitude. It's an open
attitude. As we studied once before, to
come boldly. Boldly. Not boldly with what
this flesh has. But boldly in the perfection
of our Savior, we come to that throne of grace
in our time of need. Lord, help my children. If it's His will, help my children. Amen.