My text will be found in verse
22, Hebrews chapter 9, verse 22. The Scripture says, "...and almost
all things are by the law purged with blood." And here's the focus
of our message this morning, "...and without shedding of blood."
is no remission. The title of my message is, The
Remission of Sin. The Remission of Sin. Now back in verse 15, the apostle
intends to comfort and encourage the saints of God by referring
to the cause of Christ's mediatorial work. He says, and for this cause,
for this cause, for this it became necessary that Christ should
come as a mediator of the covenant. And this cause should give every
believer in Christ assurance and comfort as to the surety
of our salvation. And we need this comfort because
of the trials and difficulties in our life. The trials and temptations
in this mortal frame, because of our continual presence of
the old man abiding within us, So while we now possess a new
nature created after God and holiness, robed in the righteousness
of Christ, yet we still have this old man about our neck. We still have this old nature. And sin is still mixed with all
we do so that we cannot do what we would. This is why we need
comfort. This is why we need assurance
of the covenant that Paul is mentioning. We cry with Paul often, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And our answer is always the
same, isn't it? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Who is going to deliver me from
the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. And here is our confidence, here
is our consolation. Herein is our conscience purged,
so that we may continue in the faith. For this cause, Jesus is the
mediator of the new covenant. Now we know the first cause of
all things is God, isn't it? The cause of Christ's mediatorial
work and our salvation is this, God. God. You remember in Ephesians 1,
verses 3-5, tell us of the election of God, His purpose, that God
the Father chose us in Christ and purposed our holiness. In
verses 8-11 of Ephesians 1, we read of the redemption of Christ
and how He accomplished that work. In verse 13, the Holy Spirit
then is shown to gather all of these elect, that's a covenant
of grace this covenant that Christ is a mediator of that's a that's
a a Summary of the whole thing chapter 1 of Ephesians is a summary
of this covenant. I But the cause of this, the
cause of election, the cause of redemption, the cause of our
calling and keeping is this, to the praise of the glory of
His grace. It's said after every one of
those things. After election is declared, to
the praise of the glory of His grace. After redemption is declared,
to the praise of the glory of His grace. After the calling
is declared, to the praise of the glory of His grace. So what
is the cause of this covenant? that should purge your conscience?
The cause of this covenant is this, to the praise of the glory
of His grace, for the glory of God. That's why God is doing
all He's doing for Himself. The second cause is our salvation.
The second cause is our salvation. We are not the cause of the new
covenant, but in grace and love of God we are named in the covenant. We are named in the covenant.
Believer in Christ. God for His own glory chose you. Therefore His salvation was not
made possible, not left up to man's will or works to make it
happen. You know, to preach such things
as that, to preach that salvation is dependent upon you is nothing
less than blasphemy. Freewill works religion is to
cause the glory of God to be nothing less than a gamble. Consider this, that when God
purposed to save us, He did this with such zeal that He gave His
oath. God swore to save you. chapter 6. Look at verse 13. It says, For when God made promise
to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore
by himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying
I will multiply thee. And so after he had patiently
endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater,
and an oath of a confirmation is to them an end of strife.
Listen. Wherefore wherein God, willing more abundantly to show
unto the heirs of promise, you who are in that covenant of promise,
to show to you the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it."
How? How did He confirm His counsel?
By an oath. Because He could swear by none
greater, God put this salvation on Himself. God says, I swear
to save you. Now, not only did God determine
to save you, not only did He in counsel purpose to save you,
God says, I swear by my own name to save you. That by two immutable things,
what are those unchangeable things? His counsel and His oath. By
those two immutable things in which it is impossible for God
to lie, we might have what? A strong consolation. You want strong consolation?
God came to you, Scott, and He said, I swear to save you. And because I can find nobody
else greater than myself, I swear by my own name I'll save you. And for God to fail would mean
God to lie. And it says He cannot lie. He
cannot lie. A strong consolation. To who? You who have fled for refuge
to lay hold of the hope, the hope set before us. Which hope
is that? Christ. To whom does God swear? To whom does God promise an oath
of salvation? To everyone that flees to Christ
for refuge. Everyone that lays hold of Christ
by faith. Do you lay hold of Christ by
faith? Do you hang on to Him? Is He all? Believer, it is no
random chance or accident that you believe that we have laid
hold of Christ, our refuge, our rock, our foundation. We believe
because God in sovereign counsel swore by an oath. before we believe
to save us. And we believe because He swore
an oath to save us. And you know how you'll continue
in the faith? Because God swore to do it. Therefore God, by an oath, swore
to save all the heirs of promise, which are manifest by fleeing
to Christ for refuge. Now then, if you want some comfort
this morning, if you want any assurance of hope, you've got
to know this. Have you fled to Christ? I know we're praying for our
children, but have you fled to Christ? Have you fled to Him for refuge?
Then let this be the cause of your peace, that the glory of
God, the oath of God, the counsel of God, not only purpose to save
you, they demand it. God demands your salvation. And that's good news. Because
what God wants, He gets. He wants me? He swore, put His glory on my
salvation? Yes. Now, you want a strong consolation? You want something to lay down
on and rest in? That's it. You should rest in the counsel
and decree of God. Rest in the purpose of God in
saving you. So, Paul says, if God be for us, who can be against us? If God gave His only Son to make
that happen, how then will He not freely give you the trinkets
that go along with it? And Christ Jesus is the mediator,
the intercessor, and the means of this salvation. That by means
of His death, look back at your text there, it says, for this
cause, for the glory of God and for your salvation, Christ is
the mediator of the new covenant. And it's by this means God chose
to save you, that by means of death, for the redemption of
the transgression that were under the first testament, they which
are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance." You see, though God loved us
and chose us, that was not the means of our redemption. Yes, He purposed to redeem us,
but that was not the price of our redemption. This price of
redemption could not be paid by us, seeing we were born in
sin, seeing our Father had made us incapable of obedience and
lack of desire to obey the Law of God. So God, for His own glory,
trusted Christ to do it. He put all... God purposed and
swore to save you, but I'm telling you, all the weight of that salvation
rested on Jesus. God purposed for His own glory,
and said, for my glory, Son, I give you my left, and you will
make them holy. You will redeem them from their
sins, and you will save them. Therefore Christ was made the
mediator of this covenant. You see, but a covenant never
removes sin. A covenant doesn't remove sin. Sin could not be removed by a
decree or a covenant. This is why we stress that election,
though vital and necessary, But without election of the Father,
there would be no salvation, correct? There would be none
of us, none of us. Jesus said, no man can come to
me except the Father which has sent me draw him. Except we had
been given to Christ in a covenant of mercy, we would have never
come. Election is necessary. It must
have been election or we never could be saved. That song we tried to sing, "'Tis
not that I did choose thee, O Lord, that could not be. My heart would
still refuse thee, had thou not chosen me." For Jesus tells us
plainly, as I said, no man can come. Yet, plainly, we plainly
also declare this, that election is not salvation. Election in Scripture is always
unto salvation. You remember 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 13, it says, We are bound always to give thanks to God
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God had chosen
you from the beginning, listen, to salvation. Through, there
are means, there are means by which He has chosen to save you
and bring you in. We plainly declare that election
is not salvation but unto salvation for the only means of our redemption
is this, the death of Jesus Christ. That by this means the death. Death for the redemption of the
transgression. Under the first testament we
were only sin. For this is the only purpose
of the law, is to expose sin, never to save. But by the death
of Christ was sin actually redeemed, paid for in full to the justice
of God. And His death is the means by
which we are called to receive this promise. That we should
receive the covenant promises of an eternal inheritance. Now this, by this, should cleanse
your conscience and comfort you. That all of your salvation is
wrapped up, not in you, but in God. He's the first cause. He purposed your salvation and
He accomplished it by the death of the mediator. And now He gives
it. what do we do receive it we simply
receive it so then in verse 16 now he said for where there's
a testament is there must also of necessity be the death of
a testator well the testament is a force after men are dead
otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth
so the Apostle now with this in mind the death of Christ he
shows this by way of illustration You have a man that writes a
will. He writes a will and leaves everything to those contained
and written in his will. Yet his estate of this man will
not be distributed, it will not be lawful for his heirs to take
it until he dies. must first die, though their
inheritance is written down, though it is sure in that covenant
will. Yet there is of necessity the
death of the one who wrote the will. The death must give the
strength, even so. The promises of God, all spiritual
blessings are ours from before the foundation of the world,
but only after the death of Christ can that covenant have any strength. This is the will of Him that
sent me, that of all He had given me I should lose nothing but
raise it up at the last day. This is the covenant will of
God. God said, I will put my laws in their hearts, in their
minds, and write them in their hearts. I will be their God, and they
shall be my people. They shall all know me, from
the least of them to the greatest of them. I will be merciful unto
their unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities will I remember
no more. Then comes the voice of the sinner,
the one made sensible. And he asked this question, How
can this be? How can this covenant be for
me? God is just and holy and I am
a sinful man. How then could God be just and
still forgive my sin? Have you thought about that?
That is the ultimate question. How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? You take a guilty man and you
put him before a judge and the judge has compassion, though
he's guilty. The judge has compassion and
lets the man go. The judge then loses his justice. He's no longer just. He can't
let that man go. He has to punish him according
to the law. to be just. So how then could
God let me go and be just? I'll tell you, so many people
are asking the wrong questions. Just asking the wrong questions.
Where did sin come from? How could God be holy and let
sin go on? Foolish question. Foolish question. They're like a soldier that had
been shot in a war. A medic ready, standing to aid
them and assist them with all the skill required. And what
are they asking? They're asking, well, where did
the bullet come from? Who cares? That man would be insane. He
should be asking, how can you heal me? Is this wound mortal? Am I going to die? Those are
some good questions he should be asking, not where did the
bullet and what rifle did it come from. People asking all
the wrong questions. Religious fools run about and
debate such questions that have nothing to do with God, God's
remedy for the mortal wound of sin. They ask about future things,
they ask about the law and traditions and church history. But what
about the need of a sinner? The need of healing of the soul. Forgiveness of sin. Pardon and
peace with God. And so then in verses 19 through
20, the apostle speaks to this remedy. In verses 19 through
20, he speaks to this remedy. The only remedy and answer for
a dying sinner. How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? How can God be holy and yet forgive
sin? Well, Paul begins with the law
because the law is a type of how. The law is a picture of
how. For there was nowhere under the
law where atonement for sin was to be made except one place,
except one means, shedding of blood." And so in verse 22 of our text,
Paul says, "...almost all things by the law were purged with blood,
And this is the maxim. This is the premise of how God
can be just and justify the ungodly. Without the shedding of blood
is no remission of sin. No remission. And this, friend,
is not just a Jewish proverb. It's not just a Jewish maxim.
But this was set forth even from the beginning. The beginning. When Adam sinned, God came and
preached the gospel to him and said, one should come. There's
only one means, Adam, by which you can be forgiven. That the
seed of the woman should crush the head of the serpent. And
then he gave him a picture as to how that would happen. He
killed that animal. He killed that innocent animal
and covered their nakedness. Blood must be shed for the remission
of sins. That was the premise in the Garden. To which we read, Abel offered
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. Why? Because it was a blood
sacrifice. Why? Because without the shedding
of blood is no remission. See those Hebrew slaves there
in Egypt, how were they delivered? Not by flies, not by lice, not by plagues. How were they
delivered? By blood. By blood. God came through that night in
judgment over all of Egypt. He purposed to kill the firstborn
of man and beast, So what separated the Jews from the Egyptians?
Both were equally sinners. It was the blood. For when God
said this, when I see what? The blood. The blood. I will pass over you. But these bloody sacrifices,
did never remit sin. They were only a figure of Him
whose blood alone can remit sin. And behold, today there is only
one man whose blood is able to give remission of sins. That
is Jesus Christ. Look at verse 24. It says, For Christ is not entered
into the holy place made with hands which are a figure of the
truth, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence
of God for us. Nor yet he should have offered
himself often, as the high priest entered in the holy place every
year with blood of others. For then he must have suffered
since the foundation of the world. But now, listen, once in the
end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin, how? By blood. by the sacrifice of Himself. By the sacrifice of Himself.
Jesus, the Son of God, became flesh for this purpose. God could
not die, therefore He must become man so that He should shed His
blood for the remission of sins. And so then our surety for the
elect, named in the covenant, God made him to be sin for us,
that he should bear our sins in his own body and die on a
cursed tree. Believer, behold him in the garden. What was he doing the night before
he suffered? Was He not in agony and sorrow,
struggling? Bearing about what He was about
to perform, what He was about to have to accomplish? The Scripture
says, "...and He sweat, as it were, great drops of blood."
You see, my Savior agonized for righteousness, for obedience
to God. He did, as a man. He was taken by wicked hands
and cruel men, unjustly tried and condemned, yet He was without
sin, innocent. But see how He acted. He opened
not His mouth. Do you suppose if anybody could
put up a defense for himself, Christ could? Why did he not put up a struggle?
Why did he not fight for his right as deity? You listen. Because without the shedding
of his blood, there would be no remission of sin. Of necessity. Jesus Christ willingly
lay down His life for the sheep. Isn't that what He told us in
John 10? The Good Shepherd layeth down
His life for the sheep. Why? Because without the shedding
of blood, there could be no remission, no salvation, and no glory to
God's grace. Now let us see two things about
this. Two things about this statement. First a negative thing, and then
a positive. First the negative. The negative. There is no remission without
shedding of blood. First of all, the negative statement
there must be, it must be believed and received that no remission
is without the shedding of blood. If one is to reject this maxim,
you must understand this, if you reject this, that you are actually rejecting
God's Word. See, I don't even have to add
anything to it. I don't have to expound that.
Everybody should understand this. There is no remission without
the shedding of blood. That's just God's maxim. That's
God's principle. God is telling you this, and
to reject that is to reject God. To fight against this is to fight
against God. Let the potsherd strive with
the potsherd. You may strive with me all you
want to. But to strive against this is
to strive against God. Now, there's no other way. If
your sin is to be remitted, it must be by the shedding of blood.
Must be. God said it. Without the shedding
of blood is no remission. No remission. Well, notice how
decisive this word is and how sure and steadfast it is. Without the shedding of blood
is no remission. This is a steadfast statement. Let me ask you this. Can your
repentance give remission of sin? Doesn't say that, does it? It
says, without the shedding of blood is no remission of sin.
Your repentance, how much blood did your repentance cost you? No blood in repentance. Therefore,
there is no remission in repentance. Don't trust in your repentance. There's no remission in it. What
about tears and crying? The man lays out and weeps and
cries over his sin, laments his sin, and he should. You should
lament your sin. It is against God. You weep and
you cry because your soul is damned for hell, and you're weeping
and crying. Does that remit sin? No. Without the shedding of blood
is no remission of sin. What about a man's service to
God? Well, I'm a preacher. Does that give me any hope of
remission? You are a believer. You're a member of this church.
Does that give you any hope of remission? What about all your
service to the poor and all your work as a believer? Does that have anything to do
with your remission of sin? No, the statement is clear. Without
the shedding of blood is no remission. What about trusting God's mercy?
I just believe God's merciful. Surely that will remit my sin.
Surely God will receive me because I know He's merciful. Does that
remit sin? Without the shedding of blood
is no remission. No remission of sin. This cuts
off all vain hopes and dreams of men to earn or merit or obtain
forgiveness of God by any other means than the shedding of Christ's
blood." That cuts off everything. Everything. Than the shedding of blood. And
the only blood that God has accepted is the blood of Christ. Now what
about if you go out and shed your own blood? Is that sufficient? No, matter of fact, there are
tens of billions of people in hell shedding their blood every
day. They're dying every day. And you know that remits none
of their sins. Why? Their blood is contaminant.
It's vile. And it deserves to be shed. If
you die for your sins, you deserved it. And none of your sins are
remitted by it, only by the blood of Jesus Christ. The best that
we can do, the greatest offering a man can make is so far from
remission that you are just as close as when you started. Infinitely far away. Why? Because this statement is firm
and it doesn't move for anybody. Without the shedding of blood
is no remission. And this maxim is universal.
It doesn't matter who you are. You have a king robed in his
royalty, descending down in his judgments. He's a noble man,
a good king. Is he able to remit his sins
based on his authority as king? No. Why? Without the shedding
of blood is no remission. You see the educated man, the
wise man with all of his degrees and titles, can his degrees remit
his sin? No. You see the poor peasant,
the man in poverty. You see him striving and suffering,
cold and alone. Does all his shivering and poverty
do anything to remit his sin? Is God going to be able to forgive
his sin based on his plight? No. Without the shedding of blood
is no remission." You see, this is the great leveler
of all men, isn't it? It puts you and the president
on the same level. It puts you and the child molester
on the same level. And to think anything highly
of yourself is nothing but self-righteousness. I don't care who you are or where
you come from or how vile or how moral you are. Without the
shedding of blood is no remission. No remission. This is the great
leveler. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Therefore, all need blood for
remission. This maxim is perpetual. So we see it's universal, we
see it's firm, we see it comes from God, and listen, it is perpetual. There is no remission of sin
without the shedding of blood. I repeat it continually, and
if I say it a thousand times a day, it'll never get old. It
was said long before I got here, it'll be said as long as I'm
here, and when I'm gone, it'll still continue to be true a thousand
years from now. Without the shedding of blood
is no remission. Some people come along and say,
well, you know, my priest, he can do it. I have a priest, he
can remit my sins by prayer." Isn't that what they think about
purgatory? They say, there's a man in purgatory.
You see the priest over there? You give him a little money and
he'll pray and he'll remit that man's sins and get him out of
purgatory. Lies, lies, lies. Well man, I came down to the
front of the church and I made a decision for Jesus. Surely
my sins are remitted by my decision. No. Nope. If that's what you're
trusting in, they're not remitted. Why? They're not remitted by
blood. You're trusting in something other than blood. Without the shedding of blood
is no remission. Pray as hard as you want, weep
as hard as you want, groan and plead, work and labor all your
days. If you have not the blood of
Christ, your sins remain and are not remitted. Behold, the only thing that God
is satisfied with to remit sins was the bleeding and dying of
Jesus Christ alone. His blood alone remits sin. That's it. Now then, which leads
me to a positive statement. If there is no remission without
the shedding of blood, then it is sure there is remission with
the shedding of blood. Where there is shedding of blood,
there is remission of sins. And we could read that in verse
26, look at the last part of verse 26, but now, but now once
at the end of the world hath He, Jesus, hath appeared to put
away sin, to remit sin, how? By the sacrifice of Himself. This is the positive. With the
shedding of blood is remission. Jesus, being the High Priest
of His people, entered into the presence of God, not that tent,
but in the very presence of God, not without blood. In order for you to receive the
benefits of the covenant, He must of necessity shed His blood
so that your sin should be remitted, so that you should enjoy the
presence of God forever. He must have first taken your
sin, nailed it to His cross, put it away, brought the blood
to God, and God said, that's it. Sin remitted. Sin remitted. Gone. Put away. Forever. Forever. The law demanded our blood. And
so Jesus, as our substitute, offered Himself to God without
spot. And when He was made sin, there
fell the wrath of God on Him. And when justice could demand
no more payment, when sin were fully remitted, gone, put away,
He said, it's done. It's finished. What was? Sin
remitted. Sin put away. The remission of
sin has been accomplished. And see the tomb. It's empty. I know God was pleased with that
blood because the tomb is empty. It's gone. For Jesus, having bore our sin,
now put them away with His sinless by His sinless offering, and
God caused Him to sit on His throne in glory. Now, I'll give
you an illustration of this. A man was dying. A preacher came
to him and he said, Well, preacher, I am trusting in the mercy of
God. I'm trusting in the mercy of God. That God is merciful,
therefore He'll have mercy on me. The preacher went away and
said, Okay. The man grew sick. He grew worse. And the more he grew worse, the
more he thought about it. He said, well, God's merciful. God
is also just. How then will I know that God
will be not merciful to me, but just? And this troubled him,
and the preacher came back and he said, How do I know? I can't
trust on the mercy of God alone because God is just. How do I
know He'll not be just, that He'll be merciful, not just?
I don't know. How is it that a man can be saved? And the preacher said, Christ
died. in the stead of all who believe
on him. And their sins are remitted. And that man said, now that's
something to stand on. Why? For without the shedding
of blood is no remission of sin. But at the end of the world,
Jesus Christ hath offered himself. to put away our sins. Blood has been shed. You see,
I'm going to be in glory, not because of anything I've done,
but because my sins have been put away by blood. By blood. Christ, notice this in closing,
how many times did He do it? How many times was He offered?
once. You see friends there is no other
sacrifice for sin. Therefore there is nothing else
the believer trusts in for remission of sins but the blood of Jesus
Christ. Now what hope have you that your
sins will be remitted? What are you seeing the maximum
of God that's immovable? It's unchangeable. What is your
hope for your sins to be put away? It can be nothing but the blood
of Jesus Christ. Nothing but the blood of Christ. He bore the sins of many once. And notice that, he says that
in verse 28, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of who? Many. Many. Well, who are they? Well, they
are the elect. They're those named in that covenant
of grace. Yet, but what makes them manifest?
How can we know that we are one in the covenant? How do we know
His blood was shed for us? And unto them that look for Him.
shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation."
They are they that look for Him. They are they that believe in
Him alone, who take their whole soul and heart and rest it only
on the merits and blood of the Son of God. And so then I'll ask you, if
you have been trusting in some other means, why would you trust
in anything but blood? And why any blood but Jesus Christ? And if you have, rejoice. You
can have peace. Why? Without the shedding of
blood is no remission. But with the shedding of blood
is remission of sin. Complete remission. So far has
my sin been remitted that God Himself cannot and will not see
them. I can. I confess them. But I know this,
because of the blood He is both just and willing to forgive my
sin. May God press this maxim on us
continually, so that we're always looking to the blood of Jesus
Christ, our blessed Redeemer, for our forgiveness and mercy.
May God bless this to you.