This morning I want you to turn
with me to two different passages of scripture if you would in
the beginning First to Leviticus chapter 17 looking at verse 11
there and When you find Leviticus chapter 17 Mark that spot and
then turn over to Hebrews chapter 9 with me I'll give you a minute
to do that Leviticus 17, just one verse there. And then just
one verse in Hebrews chapter nine. While you're finishing
turning, I thought a lot about blood this week. Mr. Graceful here, tripped and fell
last Sunday evening, got a cut under my eye and on my arm. And
I'm reminded again that blood is essential to life. One definition
for blood that I found was defined as vital fluid. I guess that's
pretty well right. It's vital fluid. It's vital
to life. Blood circulates in our bodies
and delivers substances like oxygen and nutrients to necessary
cells in our body. And I'm not big on science and
all, but you know the body that God created is an amazing thing,
isn't it? Statistics show that a 160-pound
man has approximately five liters or six quarts of blood pumping
through his arteries and his veins, and it's believed that
a man could survive on three liters of blood, but likely to
die if he lost more blood than that, and that blood's not replaced. Most of the time when we talk
about the shedding of blood or blood in general, the losing
of blood, it's associated directly with being hurt, injured, or
even dead. Physically speaking, we see the
importance of blood and we see that we can't live without it.
And the word blood is mentioned as many as 375 times in the Bible,
so it must have great significance. And so what is the importance
of blood in the Bible? More importantly, what is the
significance and importance of shedding of blood? And that's
specifically being the shedding of Christ's blood. How important
is that? The Lord speaks very clearly
from the scriptures, the necessity and the significance, both physically
and spiritually concerning blood in Leviticus chapter 17, verse
11. Did you find it? It says here,
for the life of the flesh, in other words, the natural physical
life and body is in the blood. Our natural bodies are dependent
upon blood to live. That's what that means. Then
the Lord says, and I have given it, again, speaking of blood,
he said, I've given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement,
a covering, a cleansing, a forgiving, a purging, a pardon, all meaning
remission, all meaning atonement. He said, I've given this blood
to make an atonement for your souls. So blood has to do with
spiritual matters. It has to do with matters of
the soul. For it is the blood that maketh
atonement. It's the blood that provides
remission for the soul. Now, I had you turn to Hebrews
chapter 9. Turn there with me. You can let
your place go in Leviticus. Hebrews chapter 9, look at verse
22. It says, and almost all things are by the law purged. That word means cleansed with
blood. Now he says almost all things. You see, not all things were,
some were purged and cleansed by water. Most all things were
purged by the law with blood and without shedding of blood
is no remission. No remission. Now physically
speaking, when someone has a deadly disease and we say that they're
in remission, what we mean is with the treatment that they've
received, whether it be for cancer or something else, there are
no signs of the disease within. That person, that patient is
said to be in remission. I'm in remission forever. That's
what the child of God is. Spiritually speaking, in order
for the soul to be healed, in order for the soul to be perfected,
there's a condition that must be fulfilled. And that is, if
there is no shedding of blood, there is no remission. You see,
without the shedding of blood, there is no cancellation of debt. There is no forgiveness of sin.
There is no pardon to be received. There is nothing that you can
do. The putting away of sin depends solely upon Christ's blood being
shed. Isn't that what it says? Without
the shedding of blood. And we know that's Christ's blood
because no other blood is sufficient or effective, effectual. It has
to be talking about the blood of Christ. The putting away of
sin depends solely on Christ's blood being shed. And here's
the good news for mercy beggars. Are you a mercy beggar? I am. I know you're a mercy beggar.
Those of you who are trusting in Christ, you came to Him for
mercy, didn't you? Begging mercy from Him. The good
news for you is that with the shedding of Christ's blood, there
is remission for sin. That's great news. With the shedding
of Christ's blood, the sin debt has been paid. The penalty has
been canceled. The charges have been dropped.
With the shedding of Christ's blood, pardon has been granted. Jesus Christ has bled and there
is remission. God is holy and He's going to
remain that way. God is just and will forever
be. His justice demanded sin to be punished. The wages of
sin is death. His justice is satisfied. Why?
Because Christ has died. Christ has shed His blood. And there is remission. And I'm
in remission forever. I'm happy about that. Sin debt's
been paid in full. God's law perfectly kept. God's
justice fully satisfied. There's remission. Free from
the law. Oh, happy condition. We sing
that song. Jesus had bled and there's remission.
Cursed by the law. Bruised by the fall. That's me. But Christ has redeemed. Christ
hath redeemed us once for all. Now we are free. There's no condemnation. Our Lord provides Perfect salvation. Perfect. Come unto me, O hear
His sweet call. Come and He saves us once for
all. The blood of Christ is the proof
that salvation is of the Lord. Now you think about that. The
blood of Christ is the proof that salvation is of the Lord.
All the blood of all God's elect throughout all time could not
put away a single solitary sin in any of us. It's the shedding
of Christ's effectual blood that gives pardon, that gives remission,
that gives forgiveness of sin. It's the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, that cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1, 7. That's
what the Bible says. The remission of sin is the remission
of all sin. All of it. Don't leave that out. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us from every sin. The blood of Jesus Christ pays
for all sin. Remission is not partial. Remission
is not cooperative. Christ's blood cleanses us. Nothing
is said there about what we do for ourselves. Well, some say,
well, you gotta believe. You gotta believe. Yes, but God
is the faith giver. He made me willing to believe
in the day of His power. His power is behind my believing.
God gives the increase. What increase? Every increase.
Every increase. Especially the one that enables
me to believe and trust in Him. You're saved by grace through
faith. That's not of yourself. It's a gift of God, not by works,
lest any man should boast. And don't just memorize that
verse, get it down in your heart, because that's exactly how God
saved you. Christ's blood cleanses us from
every sin. No one sin is left unpaid, not
one. When salvation is truly of the
Lord, I don't have any sin to call my own. My sin not in part,
but the whole, the songwriter wrote, is nailed to the cross. I bear it no more. Praise the
Lord. It's well with my soul. Not because
of what I've done, but because of what He's done for me. And
knowing that, I pray, Lord, not my will, but Thine be done. Isn't
that the way we pray? Sure it is. Lord, You know what's
best. We don't. So many times I thought
something for me was bad. This is the best thing for me.
I know I'm jumping into it, both feet, you know. Later on, I'm
like, wow, that wasn't so good. Lord, You know what's best. Lord,
You work all things together for my good. I can't. Lord, You
save me by Your grace. You keep me by Your power. Who
on earth do I have beside You? Lord, whom in heaven but Thee.
For Thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive and plenteous
in mercy. There's enough mercy to go around. unto all them that call upon
thee." Are you calling? Do you need help? Do you need
mercy? Are you a mercy beggar? Well,
God promised his people, he said, your sins and your iniquities,
I will remember no more. God don't remember what we can't
forget. I find that, I think about that
all the time. I can't forget my sin and God
doesn't remember it. God can't remember what never
was. God can do anything. Don't say
God can't remember. He can't remember what never
was. You can't come back from where you've never been. Christ
is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Friends,
there is remission. Write it down. There is remission. There is pardon. I have no cause
to fear punishment for sin. Why? Because in Christ, I don't
have any. That's what free pardon from
God is. Not just as if I'd never sinned, but in Christ I've never
sinned. The shedding of Christ's blood gave remission. The shedding
of Christ's blood put my sins away. I've heard folks talk about
presidential pardons. You know, I once thought, well,
that'd be a good illustration of God's pardoning mercy and
grace to sinners. That was until I saw the conditions
that were required from a presidential pardon. I'm gonna give you just
three of them, and we can't keep none of them, not one of them.
You can go to the website, Department of Justice, and see these conditions,
www.justice.gov. There are a lot of conditions
involved in a presidential pardon. Let me give you three. First,
to obtain a presidential pardon, one must demonstrate some worthiness
of their own. Check that one off. Or cross
it out, I mean. Don't check it as done. Check
it as can't be done. There's a waiting period of five
years in which the person seeking pardon must demonstrate some
worthiness on their part or be considered by the powers to be
to be worthy of such a pardon. Now spiritually speaking, it
wouldn't matter if it was five years or 500 years. I could never
prove my worthiness, especially to God who knows and sees all
things. There'd be no forgiveness. There'd
be no reconciliation if that was one of the conditions. Secondly,
a presidential pardon does not erase the conviction. The conviction
stands as long as time lasts. Conviction can never be taken
away. And then thirdly, justice is never really satisfied in
a presidential pardon. In a presidential pardon, the
sentence is often cut short. The crime is partially punished
and unpunished. And in some cases, true justice
is never satisfied. Now, I know that there are some
innocent people that have been wrongly accused and wrongly convicted
and sentenced and served for years and they were pardoned
because they were actually innocent. But I'm talking about those who
are beyond a shadow of a doubt guilty. Proven over and over
again to be guilty. Those who are in prison and will
tell you, I'm guilty. I did this. If I've got to demonstrate
some worthiness, then I can never be pardoned in a court where
God is judge. There's none good, none righteous,
none worthy of mercy, none that are deserving of grace that's
unmerited. That's what it is, it's unmerited
grace. It's not merited. There's none that seeketh after
God. We've all gone our own way, and that way that seems right
to us by nature, that way of death. There's a way that seems
right unto a man, but the end of that way is death and destruction. I don't want my way. I want God's
way. If the pardon I desire to receive
from the president doesn't remove the conviction and remove the
guilt, and if the pardon doesn't take my felony away, my charge
away, all it does is free me naturally, and it never frees
me inwardly. And that's where the real bondage
is, isn't it? in the heart, knowing my guilt
and the shame that I have for it. It follows me all the days
of my life, and I die under the suspicion of being a criminal,
no matter how many times I was pardoned. If God simply excuses
my sin, He ceases to be just, and He ceases to be God, because
there's only one way that God can be just and me, the sinner,
can be justified. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission, none. And I'm not really clean in God's
sight and I'm doomed for God will by no means clear the guilty.
But if I've received remission, remission for sin, God will not
condemn one who is perfectly innocent. And in Christ, that's
exactly what the believer is. Do we believe it? It's hard to
believe sometimes because we know what we are. We live with
ourselves. If I receive a pardon from a
king, a president, a governor, unjustly, justice has not been
satisfied. If the crime goes unpunished,
my pardon would not only be unjust, but it would be incomplete. But
what you and I need and every sinner needs is a complete pardon,
a perfect pardon. I need a pardon that requires
no worthiness or righteousness of my own. I know who gives it. I need a pardon that puts all
my sin away, all of it. Because if I have just one partial
sin left, if there is such a thing, it'd be enough to send me to
hell a hundred times over. It's got to be perfect to be
accepted. And that's accomplished only by Christ shedding His precious
blood. The shedding of Christ's blood
is the ordained means of remission. And I tell you this all the time
in preaching, I mean it. I mean to be redundant. I want
to drive it home, not silver or gold. God doesn't take cash
or credit. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. I suppose that is probably the
inscription on the vault of hell itself. No remission, none. without the shedding of blood.
Well, with the shedding of blood, there is. What do those two words
mean, no remission? Well, first they mean that God
is angry with the wicked every day. Every single day. The wicked are the object of
God's daily wrath. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Those who
believe on Christ have everlasting life. There was shedding of blood
for them. Without that shedding of blood,
no remission. But with that shedding of blood,
total, complete forgiveness, pardon, freely, free pardon. But the one who believes not
on Christ shall not see life, and the wrath, the anger, the
judgment of God abides on them. Secondly, those words, no remission
means that those who are without remission, those who Christ's
blood has not been shed for, are in constant peril of suffering
God's anger, wrath, and judgment to the fullest. God's anger is
on them. God's wrath and judgment awaits
them. That's what happens to one when unremitted sin is found
upon them. There is no remission. And then
thirdly, the wrath of God brings forth eternal death and everlasting
condemnation. There's no purgatory. I know
that's not a pleasant subject. Eternal condemnation? Who wants
to think about it? That's what's wrong. Folks don't
think about it. It's the furthest thing from
their mind. They skip over these kind of verses where the wrath
of God abides upon you. Oh, I don't want to hear that.
Tell us smooth things. You know, we want to hear smooth
things. Good things. Not a pleasant subject. Listen,
God will by no means clear the guilty. If you're guilty, that's
not a pleasant subject. The soul that sins, it shall
die. That's not good news if you're living in sin, is it?
The wages of sin must be paid. God must remain holy and just. The eternal wrath of God is the
unbelieving sinner's recompense. That's what we deserve. Without
the shedding of Christ's blood, there is no remission. There's
no escape, no pardon from God's wrath. Certainly no hope of remission
within us. You know, God doesn't say, without
works, no remission. He says, without shedding of
blood. God doesn't say, without your will, no remission. Without
your cooperation, there is no remission. You've got to cooperate.
He doesn't say that. He doesn't say, without the shedding
of your blood, there is no remission. Without a decision from you,
no remission. Without your sacrifice, no remission.
No, he says, without the shedding of blood, righteous blood, holy
blood, perfect blood, Christ's blood, there is no remission.
No pardon, no forgiveness, no deliverance. Everything that
I want. Everything that I need. Now hear
me on this. I believe this will help you.
I believe it will encourage you. I believe it will give you some
assurance. When a man or a woman's sin is remitted, when God takes
care of it in the Lord Jesus Christ, when they're pardoned,
delivered, forgiven, they're brought to a place, a position
that they would have been if they had never sinned. That's
true pardon. That's true forgiveness. Not
the kind of forgiveness that says, I forgive, but I don't
forget. No, the forgiveness of God, which
says there's nothing to forgive or forget. Christ has shed his
blood and died and there is remission. And I'm in remission forever.
Not because of me, because of Him. The iniquity of Israel shall
be sought for and there shall be none found. How much will
be found? None. in the sins of Judah, and
there was a multitude of them, shall not be found. But if God
can't find them, no one can. Or better said, if God can't
find them, they don't exist. King Hezekiah, he said, Lord,
thou hast cast all my sin behind your back. David said, as far
as the east is from the west, so far have God removed our transgressions
from us. You know, that's an infinite
distance. You take off to the east as far
as you can. Forget the globe, you're not
coming back around west. I'm talking about just keep going
east and keep going west. The two never meet, infinite
distance apart. That's how far my sins are from
me and your sins are from you, if Christ shed his blood for
you. The sinner for whom Christ shed His blood is the sinner
who gets remission for their sin. And they get a clearance
from sin's penalty. No more condemnation. By shedding
His blood in my room instead, by shedding His blood and dying
for me, I have no reason to fear sin's damning power. I'm not
gonna sit around and think, oh, what if I go to hell? What if
I go to hell? When I know that in Christ I'm
not. No reason to fear sin's damning power, because Christ,
my ransom's blood, has been shed for me. And without that shedding
of blood, there is no remission. But with that shedding of blood,
there is forgiveness, there's pardon. Before the foundation
of the world, God said to His chosen elect people, before they
had done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according
to election, might stand. God said, I've loved you with
an everlasting love. And therefore, because of that,
because I've loved you with an everlasting love, with loving
kindness, am I gonna draw you? I've drawn you with everlasting
kindness because I loved you before time ever was. And in
the fullness of time, I'm gonna draw you to myself. He says,
no man can come to the Father except the Father which sent
me, what? Draw them. and I'll raise Him
up at the last day. He'll be with me where I am.
God's everlasting love for us is the reason He drew us to Himself,
and it's our sin that separates us from God. It's our sin that
Christ came to save us from. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sin. Our sin put away
by the shedding of Christ's blood. Without bloodshedding, no remission.
With bloodshedding, complete remission. And I'm in remission
forever. As soon as Adam sinned, God began
to teach him that he needed a sacrifice and substitute. Adam and Eve
tried to cover themselves. They did so with fig leaves.
They did so with the work of their own hands. But the work
of our own hands is far from sufficient. There must be the
shedding of blood. And God slew a lamb and covered
them. With Cain and with Abel, only
one sacrifice did God accept. God had no respect for Cain's
sacrifice of the fruits of the earth, which represent the flea. God accepted Abel's slain lamb
for one reason, because of the shedding of blood. And with the
shedding of blood, there is remission. This has been the teaching of
truth throughout the ages. All the ancient men that feared
God found acceptance with God, found remission for sin by the
shedding of blood. The Mosaic Law revealed the need
of a sacrifice. A sacrifice must be without spot
and without blemish. Who's that picturing? The Lord
Jesus Christ. And it can only be made in the
tabernacle. The tabernacle is the only place
that the atonement could be made. It was made within the holy of
holies. Jesus Christ is the tabernacle.
Jesus Christ is the holy of holies. Jesus Christ is the altar. Jesus
Christ is the sacrifice. Jesus Christ is the high priest.
He's all of it. He's all and in all. And that's
what atonement means. It means to be reconciled to
God. It means that we've been restored back to Him. It means
to be brought back into divine favor. That's what this is, is
divine favor. Jesus Christ is our mercy seat. Don't quarrel, don't argue, don't
debate. You can't alter the will of God.
God says, by the shedding of blood, there is remission, and
you're not gonna change His mind. And without an act of divine
intervention, He won't change yours. If you have anything to
do with your will, you won't change it. I hear the words of
the father of faith, oh Abraham, I can just hear those words.
My son, to you may be my daughter. God will provide himself a lamb
for burnt offering. That's the only way it can be
provided, by God for God. Salvation was by God and it was
for God. It pleased the Lord to make you
his people. Now it pleases me that he did.
And this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into the world and He came to save sinners. He who was offended by man's
sin condescended to become man's sacrifice for sin. Isn't that
the most amazing thing you've ever heard? That's the most wonderful,
gracious, loving, merciful thing you could ever speak of. Christ
took upon Himself flesh and blood, a human body, spotless and free
from sin. He lived as a perfect man. He
was very God of very God. And when the appointed time came,
Christ offered Himself voluntarily upon the altar as the one sacrifice
for His people's sin. And by the shedding of His blood,
there's now remission of sin. And therefore, there is now no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. I want to be
in Him. Christ's blood was innocent blood.
That's what Judas declared. He said, I have betrayed innocent
blood. That's what Pilate said. He took water in a basin and
washed his hands in front of the people. And he said, I'm
innocent of the blood of this just person. And the people answered,
well, His blood be on us. His blood be on our children.
We know He's guilty. Crucify Him regardless of what
you think He is. Well, we're the renowned scholars
of today's religion. We know what's going on. We're
the scribes. We're the Pharisees. We're the
high priests, the chief priests. We know what we're doing. You're
just a man of the world. What do you know about it? Crucify
Him. His blood be on us and our children. And it was. The only
blood that could remit full payment for sin, that remittance that
God's holy law and justice demanded, is innocent blood. It's the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God had to die in the room
instead of sinners. And God the Son, Jesus Christ
did. That's what I am proclaiming
and reporting to you this morning. God has died to put away your
sin. Without the shedding of God's
blood, there's no remission. And whoever trusts in Christ
and comes to Him shall have immediate remission. I got an article in
the Bulletin today about salvation being unconditional. You know,
salvation is not conditional on us doing anything. We know
that. Salvation is unconditional. But
when you think about it, salvation does have conditions. Salvation
is conditioned upon our need. God's love is not conditional
on us. We love Him because He first
loved. God's love is conditional on His love for Christ. This
is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. You hear Him, you
do what He says, and I'll be well pleased with you. Those
that are whole, those that are well, have no need. One who is well needs no physician. What's the condition of the great
physician's treatment? That you be sick. That's a condition. You've got to be sick. They that
are sick and diseased and dying have need of thee." Have great
need. Let's say this right. Has great
need of a great physician. Whosoever is thirsty may freely
drink, and let him that is a thirst come. Whosoever will, let him
take the water of life freely. But the condition for drinking
is thirst. It's the need of thirst. Are
you thirsty? It's all about our need, not
His. Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness? Let them that
are hungry come. Let them that are thirsty come.
Let them that are sick come. Are you hungry, thirsty, and
sick? Then come to Christ. Why would
you, Terry? Come to Christ. The shedding
of His blood is the remission of sin. And the child of God,
the one who trusts in Him, is in remission forever and ever
and ever. For then must he, Christ, often
have suffered since the foundation of the world, but now once in
the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. He appeared to put away the filth
of sin, the guilt of sin, the penalty of sin. Christ appeared
and by the shedding of His blood, He put away my sin, your sin,
all the sin of all the elect throughout all time. And He put
away not only my sin, but my guilt and my penalty, full and
free pardon. Not just as if I'd never sinned,
but I'd never sinned. He told his father, I've glorified
thee on earth and I've finished the work that thou gavest me
to do. And that's where every child of God's hope lies. Christ
shed his blood and his blood shedding was the finished work
that God gave him to do. And Christ said, it's finished.
God said, that's enough. And there was immediate remission.
I don't want to be lost. Doesn't have anything to do with
us. Has everything to do with him. Thank You, Lord, for the remittance
of my sin. Thank You, Lord, for doing for
me what I couldn't do for myself. Thank You, Lord, that You saved
me by Your grace and You gave me the faith to believe it. I
sure didn't have to. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. And yet, if you're in Christ,
you can say, I'm in remission forever.