Hebrews chapter nine Hebrews
chapter nine Hebrews chapter nine Start reading at verse 11 But Christ being come and high
priest of good things to come and by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle Not made with hands like the one in the wilderness
was that is to say not of this building And in that tabernacle
they offered sacrifices, neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by his own blood he entered once into the holy place, having
obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and
of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctified
to the purifying of the flesh, 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. 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,
that were under the Law, under the Old Covenant, 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 the testator. For a
testament, or will, is a force after men are dead. Otherwise
it is no strength at all while the testator live. Whereupon
neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. For
when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to
the law, He took the blood of calves and of goats, with water
and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and
all the people, saying, This is the blood of the testament,
which God hath enjoined you. Moreover, he sprinkled with blood
both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And
almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without
shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that
the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with
blood, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands, not into an earthly tabernacle,
which are just figures or types of the true tabernacle, but into
heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. nor
yet that he should offer himself often as the high priest enters
into the holy place every year with the blood of others. Don't
have to come back every year and do this. For then must he
have suffered since the foundation of the world once a year, but
now, once in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself, and as it is appointed unto men,
wants to die, but after this the judgment So Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for Him,
oh, how we look for Him, shall He appear the second time without
sin, without putting away sin, but that'll be our salvation.
Let's look back together here in Hebrews chapter 9 and in verses
19 and 20. Won't you look at something with
me? For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people
according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats
with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the
book and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the testament
which God hath enjoined you." I'm going to talk about that
verse, this is the blood of the testament, the blood of the testament,
the blood of the will, the blood of the covenant. Now, I want
to read something to you from Exodus 24, where this took place
at. This is where this took place
at that Paul is writing about. In Exodus 24, in verse 5, he
says this, And he sent young men of the children of Israel,
which offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings
of oxen unto the Lord. And Moses took half of the blood
and put it in basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on
the altar. And he took the book of the covenant and read in the
audience of the people. And they said, all that the Lord
has said, we will do and be obedient. And Moses took the blood and
sprinkled it on the people and said, behold, the covenant, the
blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning
all these words. And it says there in verse 22,
back over in Hebrews, And almost all things by the law are purged
with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission. People wonder why the Bible,
and even I read in Hebrews 9 how many times the blood is mentioned.
Do you know why God mentions blood so much? Because sin is
so awful. Sin is so detestable. Sin is
so black and dark that it takes death the shedding of blood to
put it away. And blood has two qualities to
it. Whenever you see somebody hurt
real bad and see a lot of blood, it's very repulsive, but also
it's very precious. It's very precious for the life
of the flesh is in the blood, and especially the blood of Christ.
But blood stirs up men's emotions when you see it in an accident
or something like that. You see, it stirs up fear, it
stirs up anxiety. And I tell you what, the soul
who isn't stirred when they see a lot of blood, there's something
bad wrong with them. But you imagine Adam and Eve,
they brought their first sacrifice after God said and expelled them
from the garden, sent them out of the garden. First thing they
had to do, God himself shed the first blood, covered their nakedness
with coats of animal skin. but they build them an altar.
You imagine what it was like the very first time that they
brought a sacrifice, and they slit that throat, and the blood
began to, that warm blood began to come out of that animal's
throat. And they, that thing's laying
on the ground, it's wiggling, it's rolling, it's throwing its
feet, and they stand back and watch that. And then they take
that blood and put it in that animal, that blood, and put it
on an altar. And you say, boy, that's so,
that sounds awful. God wanted them to understand
the consequences of the sin that they inflicted on themselves
and on the human race. This is what your sin cost. This
is what it takes to put your sin away. This, this animal here
that you're killing, this animal here that the lifeblood's going
out of it, that was once standing before you a living thing and
now it's dead and you offer that blood? That's because of your
sin. He wanted them to understand
what an awful thing sin is. And oh my, and I tell you what,
when they saw their first son, They saw their first son, the
one to mention, Dane and Abel. They went out, found Abel, their
son. Their own brother had killed
him. Their other son killed him. And there he's laying. The scripture
speaks about the speaking blood of Abel. Christ's blood speaks
of better things than that of Abel. And there's Abel's blood.
And they come out there and they look at it. And they see Abel
lying there. And whatever he killed him with,
whether it was a rock or a stick or whatever it was, was laying
there with it. Blood was on it. Blood was on
the boy as he laid there. And they saw all that blood.
Huh? Oh, my. There's the firstborn. And there's his blood, precious
blood, poured out on the ground. So they felt awful. It's consequences
of sin. consequences of sin. And in the
law, when we're talking about Moses, read the law, opened up
the book, read all the precepts, and the Jewish law was our schoolmaster. Blood was constantly, constantly
shed to show to the Jews the guilt of sin. That's what men
don't understand. The reason the shedding of the
blood is because of the guilt of sin. And this blood was shed
in the greatness of the covenant and the atonement necessary to
put sin away. If sin is going to be put away,
there has to be shedding of blood. If sin is going to be atoned,
there has to be an atonement. And Morefuda went to the tabernacle. or to the Jewish temple. Those
fellows got up every day, those priests did, and they put on
a white linen garment, white linen garment, and they had this
bonnet on their head, but first thing they done when they went
in there, they started offering sacrifices. And them white linen
garments that they had on in a little while was covered in
blood. They was covered in blood. oh
my and how many beasts, ah you read about how many beasts that Solomon offered but these priests
they stood from morning to evening offering sacrifice after sacrifice
after sacrifice after sacrifice and if you would have stood in
that outer court of that Jewish temple you mean to tell me this
is the place where God is worshiped? This is the place where we come
to God? This is the place where these
priests come and stand before God? What's all this blood about? What's it on the ground? Why
is it on their clothes? Why is it on the altar? Sin must
be put away. Sin must be atoned for. Oh, my. And I tell you what. Everywhere,
when you looked, you seen signs of bloods of lambs and bullocks
and goats that were slain. And God intended for people that
understand, and it taught the lesson to the people of how loathsome,
how detestable, how awful sin is. And the only way it could
be put away is by the sacrifice of a life. A life that hadn't
sinned. A life that hadn't done anything. And oh, it tells about the sacrifice
of a great life, a life not yet lived, and that life of the one
to come, our Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, who must
become a man. You know how detestable sin is,
that if God shed all them animals' blood, and it purified the soul,
and it made the soul acceptable to God, and put their sin away
for that day or for a year, and God passed over them, how much
How much must God thank a sin that He sent His Son who became
a man and God prepared Him a body for one reason, so He could die
in the place of sinners? Oh my! Christ became a man that
He might offer His own holy, sinless, immutable life upon
God's altar to put away the guilt of sin the filth of sin, and
the loathsomeness of his people's sins. Now, if this troubles you,
and you say, boy, this sounds awful, preacher, if this troubles
you, I would to God, you and I, understood to some degree
what a horrible thing it is to rebel against God, to pervert
his blessings that he gives us, to have no virtue, and to run
into sin. If blood's detestable to you,
sin is infinitely, infinitely more detestable to God. We just sang that song. Jesus
paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin, sin left a crimson stain. Bless his name, he washed it
all away. And oh my, again here in verse
16. Let's read this down through
here again. Hebrews 9.16, for where a testament
is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator,
or the will. We call them wills, last will
and testament. I've got one, Shirley's got one,
you all probably got a last will and testament. And that's what
this is talking about. For where a testament is, there
must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a
testament or will is a force after men die. Otherwise, it's
no strength at all at all while the testator lives. My will is
not worth the papers printed on as long as I'm alive. But
when I die, it has some power behind it. And that's what he's
talking about Christ here. Whereupon neither the first testament,
the law, the old testament, the covenant of the law was dedicated
without blood. For when Moses had spoken every
precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood
of calves and of goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and
sprinkled both the book. And then he sprinkled all the
people, sprinkled all the people saying, this is the blood of
the Testament with God hath commanded you, has given to you, has blessed
you too. And the blood, the blood that
flowed from the veins of our Lord Jesus Christ is a thing
of deeper, greater solemnity before God than you or I or any
tongue can ever tell. Do you know what it was like
for the Lord Jesus Christ to take His blood and enter in to
the presence of God. He entered once into that holy
place. He entered in there. What did
he enter in there with? Just like the high priest entered
into the holiest of holy with the blood. Once a year, our Lord
Jesus Christ, imagine what it was like when he took his blood
into the presence of God and offered it, offered it to God. And he came back out of there.
He came back out of there with eternal redemption for Abel,
for Abraham, for Isaac and Jacob, and every soul for whom Christ
died. Oh, what it was to God. And I'll
say this, I'll say this, the blood of Christ never becomes
precious to a sinner. Did you hear what I said? The
blood of Christ never becomes precious to a sinner until he
has seen and felt his sin felt his uncleanness and what he actually
deserves from the hand of God for his sin. Oh, oh that God
would teach us, teach us, teach you, teach my children the awfulness
of sin, the awfulness of sin, till nothing but the blood of
Jesus Christ means everything to us. E'er since by faith I
saw thy stream, thy flowing moon supplied, redeeming love has
been my theme, and shall be till I die. Huh? Well, let's look
at some things. I want to just, just look at
some things here in verse 20. Look what it says, the blood
of the Testament. This is the blood, the name given to the
blood of Christ. It's called the blood of the
Testament. This is what's name God give to the blood of Christ,
to the name, the blood of the Testament. And what that means
is the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is the blood of a covenant.
God made a covenant. God and His Son and the Holy
Spirit made a covenant. And a covenant is a legal agreement
between two or more parties. Now, this covenant was a blood
covenant. Our Lord Jesus Christ and God
the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, before the world
ever began. The Father said to the Son, I'm
going to give you a people. And he said, the Holy Spirit,
you're going to go down and make them people to understand who
I am, God, who my Son is, the Lord Jesus Christ, and what they
are, sinners. And our Lord Jesus Christ became
the surety. He said, Will you go and shed
your blood to put away their sins? Our Lord Jesus Christ said,
I'll go. The Holy Spirit said, I'll come
and take the things of Christ and show them unto them and make
sure I will get. I'll guarantee for everyone you
die, I'll save. And everyone the Holy Spirit
convinces of their sin, I'll see that they'll know me and
they'll, every one of them, come to me. And that's the blood of
the covenant. And our Lord Jesus Christ's blood
was the blood of the covenant. And who was it for? He obtained
eternal redemption for us. He sprinkled the people. Whose
people? God's people. Huh? And let me
tell you something. This covenant does not have it. This covenant doesn't rest with
you or me. We don't enter into covenant
with God. God entered into covenant with us. He entered into covenant
with His Father and His Son and His Holy Ghost. And the only
way in the world we're in the covenant as we were in Christ. We didn't do anything to get
in this covenant. We didn't have no worth in the
Hebrews 9. Look at it with me. We didn't do anything to get
into this covenant. You know how we got into this
covenant? It didn't say a word about our works, didn't say a
word about our worth. We were only in this covenant
as we stood in Christ. We were parties in this covenant
as only as we were in the loins of our Lord Jesus Christ. We
were his seed. Grace was given us in Christ
before the world began. Chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. And look what he said in Romans
9 in verse 16. This is what I'm talking about.
If we're in this covenant, we're in it because Christ is our surety. And we're in it because we were
in Christ and seed of the seed of Christ. So Romans 9.16 says
this, So then, it is not of him that willeth, Man talks about
his will, talks about the power of his will, and the freedom
of his will, and his power of choice. God says, your will don't
have nothing to do with this. Not of him that runneth. Oh,
listen, I'm going to run for God. I'm going to really go to
work for God. But oh, who is it then? But it's
God that showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for this same purpose, Have I raised thee up that I
might show my power, my authority in thee, and that my name be
declared throughout all the earth? Listen to it. Therefore hath
he mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardens. Why
in the world did God show mercy? Because we was in the covenant
in Christ, only in Christ. And I tell you in a covenant,
in a covenant, pledges are given. Everybody in this buildings entered
into covenants before if you ever bought a house If you ever
made a wheel pledges are given you guarantee something you give
something Well, here's what happened in this blessed covenant this
blood of covenant of Christ The father pledged his honor his
word and placed his oath because I could swear by no greater I
swore by myself and God put all of his eggs in one basket in
His blessed Son. And God made the whole, the whole
complete salvation of His elect to depend upon the Lord Jesus
Christ, His Son. And He pledged He would be true
to the Son. He'll be true to you, Son. I'll
be with you, Son. I'll guarantee that everything
that you do will be acceptable in My sight. He'd be true to
the Son, that He would see His seed, that He would be satisfied
with Him, satisfied with who He is, and satisfied with what
He did, and satisfied with who He did it for, satisfied with
His blood. And He told him this, He says,
By your knowledge, I'm going to justify many. Now let me tell
you something about that over in Acts 53 and 11. When it says,
By His knowledge, shall my righteous servant justify many? Now, it's
not our knowledge of Him that justifies us. It's His knowledge
of us. It's what He knows about us.
And He says, He saw the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied. So God, Christ in His infinite
knowledge, when He came into this world, He knowed whom He
was dying for. He knowed who was going to be
justified. And He came here and shed His
blood as righteous servant and justified everyone for whom He
Listen, I'm going to tell you something. Every time you find
what Christ did for us, it's always in the past tense. Always
in the past tense. Whom He justified. When did He
justify us? He justified us in Christ before
the world ever began. Just as sure as I'm standing
here before you. And then when our Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world, He died to justify us on that cross, and then when
He raised again from the dead, it shows that the payment was
paid, and now we're justified. Justifies before, justifies in
time, and justified us on the cross, and justified us when
He brought the gospel to us. Made us to know what He did for
us. He did all this, and then we come, and He tells us what
He did for us. He did all this before we ever
were. And then he comes along and lets
some little old preacher like myself or some other preacher
get up and tell you about it. And I never will forget when
I start learning these things. I go, oh! Hold my mule for me. Oh, my. And a covenant, not only
is it the pledges are given, God placed his honor. God placed
to the son to save all whom was given to him. God said, I place
to be satisfied with you. And a covenant has to have a
seal. Has to have a seal. We got the seal of the United
States of America. President's got a seal. The state
of Tennessee has a seal. And a seal makes something authentic. It makes it real. It makes it
sure. Well, our Lord Jesus Christ is
the seal of the covenant. He said, I've sworn by my hand,
the Lord Jesus Christ in the fullness of time, he set the
seal by pouring out his life blood and emptied himself. And
doing this, he made it valid, he made it secure, he made it
effectual once for all. Look what he said in Hebrews
9.12, back over in Hebrews there. Listen, there's no default in
this covenant. I was talking to a banker the
other day and he's talking about how that the bank had to go back
and a fellow made a default and he had to go take back a whole
bunch of property. Well, listen, there ain't going to be no default
in this covenant. You know why? Because we got
no payment in it. We don't owe nothing for it.
Christ made the payment. Christ ratified the covenant.
Christ said to his seal that the covenant is good. Huh? Oh,
he says there, neither by the blood of calves and goats, but
by his own blood, he entered at once into the holy place,
having attained eternal redemption for us. Look over here. Look
over here in Hebrews 13, 20. Oh my. The Lord Jesus Christ was payment
for his part of the covenant. His blood was payment for his
part of the covenant. When God entered into a covenant,
the covenant has to be ratified. The covenant has to have a seal
to it. Christ made His blood to be the
seal, to be the payment for it. Now, the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd
of the sheep. How? Through the blood of the
everlasting covenant. Oh, listen. Now every soul whose name was
in that covenant that was given to Christ, every soul whose name
was in that covenant that was given to Christ, to whom Christ
placed His blood and then ratified it, sealed it with His blood.
Every single one of them must be saved. The Lord Jesus Christ
will have all whom He died for. I lay down my life for who? The
sheep, the sheep and Isaiah said it like this. I'll give you the
sure mercies of David. You know what the covenant was
and the covenant that David's talking about the sure mercies
of David, you know, the center sureness lies in the blood of
Christ. David says the Lord has made with me an everlasting covenant
ordered and all things sure. Sure, if that was sure Imagine
what is sure how sure it is for us after the blood of Christ
has been shed. Oh My all the promises of God
are in him. Yeah, and amen. Well, what's
the purpose of this blessed? Doctrine, huh? What's the purpose
of the Christ blood this precious blood the blood of the testament?
Well, it makes the covenant sure to those who believed in the
Lord Jesus Christ if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ If you
believe in Him, you trust Him, you look to Him for everything,
never to yourself for nothing, then you are as sure, your salvation
is as sure as God Himself. You know, it's not because of
our frames of mind. We get some awful frames of mind
sometimes. Do you all ever do that? Do you
ever, your mind just, sometimes you get up and you don't know
what in the world causes it, but your mind just, you're just down
in your mind, down in your soul. or you get something on your
mind, it just never goes away. It stays there and stays there
and stays there. And you have these feelings,
these feelings, you know, that you're inadequate, that there's
nothing to you, that you're a hypocrite. Ain't you glad that it's the
blood of the covenant? Ain't you glad it's the blood
of Christ? Oh, our feelings come and our feelings go, but the
blood of Christ never changes, never changes. That's why God
said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. I won't pass over
you because you dedicated. I won't pass over you because
you're hurting. I won't pass over you because
you said some awful things or feel some awful things or did
some awful things, said some awful things and hurt somebody
awful bad. He said, you know what? I'll
pass over you for, cause I see the blood. I see the blood. Ain't
you grateful that when you, your mind is just in a turmoil, that
you said things that you said, Oh Lord, forgive me. You've done
things that you say, Oh God, have mercy on me. Ain't you grateful
that God said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Listen,
different days bring different feelings, but the covenant of
the blood, the blood covenant never changes. This great transaction
between the father and the son was not made by you and wasn't
made by me, and we can't unmake it either. We can't unmake it. Our salvation, our security is
not in ourselves, but in our surety in our Lord Jesus Christ. One old hymn writer, I don't
even know who it was, that said, nor death nor hell shall ever
remove his favors from his breast. In the dear bosom of his love,
they must forever rest. And if you're resting him here,
imagine what is going to be there. If it's sweet here, imagine what
it'll be there. And here's another blessed truth.
This blood of the Testament teaches us, teaches us our Lord Jesus
Christ. Back up here in verse 16. Our
Lord Jesus Christ, when he was sitting with his disciples, before
he went to the cross, he took some wine and he gave it to them. He said, this is the blood of
the testament, which I've shed for me. And he took that bread
and he said, this is the bread of the testament, of the will.
Now, salvation comes to us, it says in verse 16, for where a
testament is, there must also be necessity be the death of
the testator. So, you know, in Old Testament,
in the last will and testament in the covenant, it's based on
a will. It's based on a will. And let
me tell you something, a will has no power unless the man who
made it is dead. There must be the death of a
testator. For where a testament is a force, it becomes effectual,
it becomes good after somebody dies. As long as he lives, it
has no strength whatsoever. You can look at it and say, boy,
boy, when daddy dies, I'm going to get this. When my rich uncle
dies, I'm going to get this. You can get your will out and
let somebody read it. That absolutely is just a piece
of paper until you're dead. Well, I tell you what, our Lord
Jesus Christ died. And you know and we was in that
wheel, we was in that wheel, we was in that Testament. Oh
some all wonderful things was left in that wheel for us. Oh
forgiveness, justification, righteousness, salvation, cleansing, new heart,
new mind, new spirit, So, new creature, all these things were
given us in this will. And the will is good. His will
is good. Well, all the things that He,
Lord, He leave us in this will. Everything that pertains to life
and eternal life in Him. Everything that God requires,
He gave us in that will. Everything that would make us
acceptable to God he gave us and left us in his will, huh?
And oh listen now look what it says there now For a testament
verse 17 is a force after men are dead. Otherwise, it is no
strength at all while he lives Now, let me tell you something
We die. We don't know what's going on,
but our Lord Jesus Christ died and he rose again and sets it
at the right hand of God to ensure that His will is carried out.
I can't do that. When we're gone, people can just
fuss and fight and debate and everything else over. They ain't
going to mind. But that's what they'll do. People
will fuss and fight over things that you wouldn't believe when
somebody dies. But I, Lord, because the man's
not there to say, this is what I wanted. But that's the last
will of the Testament. It ought to be carried out to
the letter. And our Lord Jesus Christ, He lives and His will
is going to be carried out to the letter. If I've been left in the will,
I'm going to get just exactly what He left me. And guess why? Because He lives
to make sure that I get it. Lord, now when you read a promise,
you can say, oh, that's in my Redeemer's will. Oh, when thou
goest through the fire, you'll not be burned. When you go through
the rivers, it'll not overflow you. When you go through the
floods, it'll not overflow you. Let not your heart be troubled,
for I'll go to prepare a place for you. If I'll go to prepare
a place for you, I will! I will! come again and receive
you unto my sin. Father, I will that thou whom
thou hast given me may be one with us as you are. Father, I
will that they whom thou hast given me may behold my glory. That's in his will. Don't you enjoy his will? Oh,
there's nothing like it. And let me tell you something.
You say, well, Nothing can make this wheel void. You can't be
left out. You can't be left out. You may
do some awful things, but it don't get you out of the wheel.
David did some awful things, but on his deathbed said, the
Lord hath made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things
insured. And oh, we may disgrace ourselves, but that don't take
us out of the wheel. We may be poor as a church mouse,
that don't take us out of the will. Oh my. And he who makes
the will, the Lord Jesus Christ, puts his name to it. And that's
what makes the will valid. Look at Hebrews 10 and verse
10. That's what makes the will valid. Not the one who inherited
it, but the one who made the will and who left it to people. Look what he says in verse 10,
by the which will, by the which will, what will? The blood of
the Testament. We are sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ. What's wrong? By the
will of this Testament, we're sanctified by that offering.
And our Lord Jesus Christ lives to see that we're sanctified.
And oh, let me tell you this, let me hurry. The blood of the
Testament, was of the utmost importance in the ministry of
the tabernacle. It says there that Moses took
the blood and he sprinkled the book and he sprinkled the people
and he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels
in the ministry. So everything that had to pertain
to God was sprinkled with blood. The book was sprinkled with blood.
And I tell you what, there's a scarlet thread, like that scarlet
thread that hung out of Rahab's window. And when you see that
scarlet thread, save them. There's a scarlet thread, a trail
of blood, all the way from Genesis to the end of this book. That's
why we sang that new song unto Him that loved us and redeemed
us. By what? His blood! Out of every
tribe, kindred, nation, and people. And all he sprinkled it upon
the book. This book is blood sprinkled,
that's why we love it. And there's a crimson stain on
every page, but you take the blood out of it, and you know
all it is? It's a book of judgment. Book
of judgment. And then the blood was sprinkled
upon the mercy seat itself. And it's the blood that pleased
before the throne. You know that when they went
into that holy place, that holiest of holies, they sprinkled the
blood on the mercy seat. Well, Christ's our mercy seat,
and He's the blood. He was the mercy seat, and the
blood is on the mercy seat. And the blood, the blood pleads
before the throne. Look what it says here in verse
23 and 24 of Hebrews 9. He's talking about, you know,
it pleads, you know, as the blood on the mercy seat pleads, it
pleads before God now. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself. Now, now to appear in the presence
of God for us. Oh my, I'm going to tell you
something. The blood on the mercy seat and
the power of that blood on the mercy seat put away sins just
for a space of time. But when our Lord Jesus Christ
entered into the presence of God, he put away sin once and
for all by the sacrifice of himself. And I'm going to tell you something.
Before you ever committed a sin, Christ carried it before you
ever committed it. Before sin ever came out of your
heart, it already weighed upon his heart. and all the sins before
we even committed them that came out of our heart that we did,
Christ bore it himself on that tree, on that tree. And then
it says that the blood was sprinkled upon all the vessels upon the
sanctuary and every vessel of the sanctuary. Now what that
means, here we are. We're vessels of God. We belong
to God. We belong to Christ. And everything
in that tabernacle, they went through there and sprinkled everything.
The book, the people, the tabernacle, the sacrifices, the offerings,
the wall, they sprinkled everything to make it acceptable to God.
Well, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit comes and sprinkles
us with the blood of Christ. You know what makes our worship
acceptable here this morning? Sprinkled blood. We worship through the power,
through the merit, through the precious blood of our Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the only thing. Our praise,
our praying without him and without his blood is just feeble, but
oh, it's acceptable to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Our sins
washed in his blood. And then best of all, not only
was it sprinkled upon every vessel of sanctuary, all of us who stand
here to worship, but best of all is sprinkled on all the people.
Sprinkle on all the people. It sprinkles our conscience from
dead works. And I tell you, beloved, by the
sprinkling of the blood, we're saved. And if we don't have the
blood of Christ upon us to save us, it'll be on us to destroy
us one of these days. Huh? That's what they, them Jews,
when they crucified him, they said, oh, don't do this. And
he said, his blood be on us and on our children. Well, it's been
on them ever since as judgment, as judgment on them. All right,
let me quickly give you this and I'll be done. Look at the
effects of the blood of Christ, effects of it. Whenever or wherever
and upon whoever the blood is supplied, that man's made a new
creature. He's made a new creature. How
do you know he's made a new creature? Is your guilt gone? Is your condemnation
gone? Are you cleansed? Do you feel
the weight of your sins gone? Huh? What can cause that to happen?
Do you have peace of heart? Do you have peace of soul? What
caused that? The blood of Christ. This is
what happens to it. It makes new creatures out of
people. Oh, and the precious blood has the power in it that
if you have lost your peace, you can come to that fountain
of blood. It'll be restored just like that. Huh? Be restored just
like that. And not only does it give us
peace of heart, makes us new creature, but you know what gives
us access to God? To God Himself. And how we can
come with boldness to God? Because the blood's been shed.
We come to God in Christ. We come to God because of Christ.
We come to God because He washed us. And oh Lord, we thank You
for Your blood. It's the blood that sanctifies
us. It's the blood that gives us assurance. Some of you have
great assurance right now because you know what this thing means.
You've had the effects of it. You know how precious it is.
You know how precious the blood of Christ is. You've had it put
on you. You've enjoyed it. You've rejoiced
in it. And God put you in his covenant.
And Christ came and became your surety. Paid all your debts. Put away all your guilt. Paid
every sin debt. Put them all away. And bless
his holy name. He did it with love in his heart.
He did it with joy and despising the shame and enduring the cross.
And when his blood poured down that cross and laid on that crown,
God himself said, what a wonderful, blessed Savior. Now, now, all
who I gave to my son, I can smell them. And they all smell just
like my son. It was like Jacob when he, when
his mother put them goat skins on him and he went in there to,
Esau went out to get some food for him and he, she went and
had him fixed it and put that, said, you don't smell like my
son Esau. He said, oh, it's me, it's me.
You don't smell like the, well. There was a time we didn't smell
that way, but now God smells us. I smell my son. I see my son. What sweet savor. Christ is a sweet savor of life
unto us. Would you be free from the power
of sin? Would you be free from sin? Would
you be free from sin? There's power. There's one working
power in the blood. Would you be saved from your
sin? Look to Him who shed His blood
for sinners, for sinners. Old John Donne said, as the first
atom sweat surrounds my face, may the last atom's blood my
soul embrace. May God make this blessed truth
precious to us, precious to you, and saving to those who've never
been saved. Our Father, in the precious name
of Christ our Lord, thank you for your gospel. Thank you for
the blood. Thank you for the blood that
washes us. You told us that it's the blood of Jesus Christ that
cleanses us from all sin. How red blood can take black
sinners and make them as white as snow. It's a miracle. It's
a miracle, Lord. It's a supernatural action. Oh,
God, that you'd take people like us, sinners by nature, sinners
by practice, and take us and wash us in your precious blood.
Take away all the stains. Take away all the guilt. Take
away all the condemnation. Take away, oh, Lord, everything
that was against us, everything that God held against us. Lord
Jesus, you put it out of the way, and we're able to draw nigh
to God now through a new and living way through the sacrifice
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for giving us this
blessed, blessed access. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for what
you did for us. Bless your Holy Spirit for bringing
us the things of Christ, making them real and vital to our hearts
and souls. We thank you in his name. Amen.