You know, the work of every preacher
is to be a watchman and to do our best to discover and declare
the fullness of Christ and the emptiness of the creature and
the snares of the great deceiver. And by God's grace, I hope to
touch on those things tonight. I earnestly desire those of us
that are believers, I would encourage you in your believing, encourage
you in your faith of Christ our Savior. I would not encourage
you in your doing and your fretting and your worrying and your striving,
but I would encourage you in your believing. If you believe
in Christ, continue believing in Christ. If you believe in
Christ, believe Him with all your heart. Believe Him more,
trust Him more. If you're not a believer, I would
endeavor to encourage you tonight to believe Him now, to trust
Him now, to have faith in Him now as God gives it to you. If
you're unable to believe, lay hold on Christ. My text is found
in verse 22 of Hebrews 9 as we endeavor to worship and set Christ
forth tonight. And it's found in the last portion
of that verse. I just want to start here as
my jumping off point and we'll read some other scriptures. Try
to make a few comments. I hope I don't keep you long.
Verse 22, we read the latter part, and without shedding of
blood is no remission. That is a simple statement. It's
a singular statement. It's an exclusive and a final
statement. It's very blunt, and it's straight
to the point. It's a statement of truth, and
it is of divine authority. This is God's Word. It's not
a thing which you may doubt or which you may believe. It must
be believed. It must be received. Otherwise,
you've denied the scripture and turned aside from God and called
God a liar. To not believe God's word is
to count him as a liar, not worthy to be believed. And that's a
serious matter. And further, to deny this truth
or any truth of scripture is to hate your own mercies and
to despise your own salvation. Surely you wouldn't do that.
Surely a man wouldn't do that. Well, man does. Surely no one
here would do that. For though this truth rules out
any hope for remission of sins without the shedding of blood,
it implies that remission of sins is accomplished by shedding
of blood and that there is remission of sins. I'm so glad the scripture
doesn't say there's no remission, there's no forgiveness of sins.
Well, we might as well just quit. But the scripture says without
shedding of blood, there's no remission. Our real want Our
real want is to know, how can we be saved? If we've been made
aware that our sins must either be pardoned or punished, then
comes the anxious question, the anxious inquiry, how can it be
pardoned? This concerns every one of us.
We dare not die without Christ, a substitute. We dare not die
without a blessed substitute, without a righteousness, without
a covering for our sins, for at that very moment we must enter
into judgment. How can it be pardoned, we ask?
Well, this scripture before us pretty well narrows it down.
Well, actually, it excludes all other but the one singular way,
by the shedding of blood. By death, which signifies death,
make no mistake, the shedding of blood signifies one must die
to put away sin. And when we start reading the
scriptures back in Genesis, how soon after sin appeared on the
earth, was blood shed because of it. You all remember, when
Adam and Eve sinned, they made fig leaves to cover their nakedness,
their guilt and their shame. But God stepped in and provided
coats of skins, had to kill an innocent animal and shed blood
to cover their nakedness of Adam and Eve. And shortly thereafter
did Abel bring an offering that God had respect unto. He brought
of the firstling of his flock. He had not respect to Cain's
offering because he brought of the fruit of the ground, but
he had to respect unto Abel's offering because they will shed
blood, shed innocent blood, and a sacrifice was offered. Back
in Hebrews 9, we read, beginning in verse 19, regarding what happened
with Moses back in the Old Testament, back in Exodus, and we'll look
at that in just a moment. But it says regarding Moses and
the people, he said, 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 unto
you. And moreover, he sprinkled with
blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry."
Let's look at the passage it's referring to back in Exodus 24.
a little more insight into that. Exodus chapter 24. Read first
there in verse 3 where it says, And Moses came and told the people
all the words of the Lord and all the judgments. And all the
people answered with one voice and said, All the words which
the Lord has said will we do We will obey. We will be obedient
to God's commands, God's law, God's word. We will obey. And then look in verse 7. And
he took the book of the covenant, that is Moses, and read in the
audience of the people, and they said, all that the Lord hath
said will we do and be obedient. And what did Moses do? Moses
is a type of Christ. Moses took the blood, him knowing
salvation's not in obedience to the law. Salvation's in the
shedding of blood. Immediately, Moses took the blood
and sprinkled it on the people and said, behold, the blood of
the covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all
these words. These people, in a few chapters,
They were dancing naked in front of a golden calf that they made,
saying, these be our gods that delivered us out of Egypt. Good
thing there was blood to cover the sins of those people, the
blood of the covenant. That's a strange thing to man,
that man would say, we will do what God has said, but Moses
administered the blood. Obedience to the law is not salvation. This law was a law of do and
live, don't do and die. This is not the eternal covenant
of grace that's given to believers. This was the covenant of works
that was given to the nation of Israel. And this is typical
of New Testament covenant with believers. The salvation is not
we will do and be obedient. And that's a good thing. For
just a few hours, these same folks, like I said, they was
worshiping a golden calf. And they said, these be our gods
that delivered us out of Egypt. So before they sinned, there
was a sacrifice made. There was bloodshed. There was
not a period of waiting. Moses didn't wait to see if they
would obey. He said, Moses took the blood
and sprinkled it on the people. And he said, behold, the blood
of the covenant. And then let's note back in Hebrews
9 and 10, or chapters 9 and 10, a contrast is being drawn between
the old covenant and the new covenant. The old covenant pertained
to the Jewish nation, natural Israel. And the new covenant,
which were pertains to believers, that is, the chosen children
of God by faith in Jesus Christ. It's for the children of Israel
by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, spiritual Israel, the Church
of God, the eternal covenant. In Hebrews 9.23 we read, it was
therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens
should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves
with better sacrifices than these, For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands, not that earthly tabernacle,
which are figures of the true, but he's entered into heaven
itself, now to appear, now to appear in the presence of God
for us. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often. The high priest had to go into
the holy of holies once every year, not without blood. but he had to take in blood for
his own sins as well as the sins of the people. But our Lord Jesus
Christ had no sin, and he entered in once, nor yet that he should
offer himself often as the high priest entereth into the holy
place every year with the blood of others. And then look over
in chapter 10, beginning in verse 1, Hebrews 10, for the law having
a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the
things can never, with those sacrifices which they offered
year by year, continually make the comers therein too perfect,
for then would they not have ceased to be offered? because
that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience
of sins. But in those sacrifices, there
is a remembrance again made of sins every year. It didn't purge
anybody's conscience. It didn't put away anyone's sins.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should
take away sins. And then look down in verse 11,
chapter 10, and every priest standeth daily ministering and
offering oftentimes the same sacrifices over and over and
over, which can never take away sins. They say millions of animals
was slaughtered in those years, and hard to tell how much blood
was shed. But this man Where am I at? Verse 11, offering oftentimes
the same sacrifices which can never take away sins, but this
man, our Lord Jesus Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. And then
look over real quick in Hebrews chapter eight, verse seven. For if that first covenant had
been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the
second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days
come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the
house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according
to the covenant I made with their fathers in the day when I took
them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because
they continued not in my covenant. They didn't keep up their end
of the bargain, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For
this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, saith the Lord. And this is that covenant of
spiritual Israel, covenant with the believer, his elect people. I will put my laws into their
mind and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them
a God, and they shall be to me a people. And they shall not
teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord, for all shall know me from the least to the
greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and
their sins and their iniquities. Will I remember no more? In that
he saith a new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that
which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. So we
have the new covenant. It's an eternal covenant that
God made with His people. And He said, I'm going to be
merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. And how does He do that? By the
shedding of His own blood. And that's what I want to look
at now. I want us to consider more closely
that the blood by which sin is put away, by which it's forgiven
and pardoned and made an end of, is none other than the blood
of Jesus Christ himself, the God-man, the perfect man. And
again, for fear of not being clear, the shedding of blood
means death. Sin, the wages of sin is death. And God must punish sin if he's
to be just. And he is just. And he punishes
sin wherever he finds it. Our blessed substitute must bleed
and die. As he who bore the sins of his
select, he must be put to death for the justice of God demands
it. He must die. Oh me, it's a glorious
thing to consider not just that blood was shed, but whose blood
was shed. He shed his blood for our redemption. He who died, He who died as our
substitute, He who laid down His life willingly and gladly
and cheerfully. The saving efficacy depends entirely
upon the fact that He who died was the Son of God, the blessed
Lamb of God, ordained and set apart and set forth from the
foundation of the world. We read that in Romans 3. Look
over there with me at that. Romans 3.24. being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation, or an atoning sacrifice, or our
mercy seat. God has set him forth to be a
propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness
for the remission of sins that are past. The sins that are past
refers to Old Testament saints. Their sins were not put away
by those Old Testament sacrifices. Christ's blood put away those
sins that are past. So we can trust him to put our
sins away, past, present, and future. And I heard Henry say
one time, when Christ died, all our sins were in the future.
And he died for all the sins of all these people for all time.
and He put away the sins of the Old Testament saints, died for
the remission of sins that are past. Through the forbearance
of God to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness, that
He might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Oh my, it's Christ the Lord of
glory who died, the perfect sinless substitute, And I'll not have
you turn to these Scriptures, I'll just read them. You know
them probably. Ephesians 1 verse 7 says, "...in
whom we have redemption through His blood." Acts 20 and 28. Verse 28 says, Feed the church
of God, which He has purchased with His own blood. Hebrews 9
and verse 12, Neither by the blood of goats and of calves,
but by His own blood, His own blood, He entered in once into
the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. He
obtained it. He got it. He obtained eternal
redemption. He accomplished. our redemption. Hebrews 13 verse 12 says, wherefore
Jesus also that he might sanctify the people. With His own blood,
that just gets a hold of me when I read it. With His own blood,
precious blood, the blood of the Son of God, that perfect,
sinless substitute. Revelation 1 verse 5 says, unto
Him that loved us and washed us from our sins, in His own
blood. What a Savior, in His own blood. 1 Peter 1 verse 18 and 19 says,
For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible
things of silver and gold from your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of
Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. The blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Without shedding of blood, not
just any blood, His blood. This is the blood of the everlasting
covenant. This is the covenant of grace,
which has no beginning and no end and must be fulfilled and
has been fulfilled. It shall endure forever. That
which he accomplished is eternal and lasting, the salvation of
his people. They'll be saved and made holy
and brought to everlasting glory in heaven itself. And the blood
of Christ is called the blood of that covenant by which is
brought in the benefits of it to his elect. That is redemption
and peace and pardon, justification, forgiveness of sins, and even
an entrance into heaven itself, an entrance into glory by and
through our blessed substitute in what he accomplished. and
Christ by his sacrificial death was brought again from the dead.
Our Lord raised him from the dead. He had respect under his
sacrifice and didn't leave him in the grave. He saw no corruption.
But he raised him and set him at his right hand, the right
hand of power and glory and honor and majesty where he is seated
even this hour. Oh my, because he fulfilled his
covenant engagements. He said, I'll go. I'll shed my
blood for my people that you've given me. I'll go. And he fulfilled
that promise. He fulfilled what he engaged
himself to do in that covenant between the father and the son.
And he satisfied divine justice that was against us. He paid
the penalty due our sin. and bore the wrath of God, who
poured out all His wrath without restraint on His dear Son. He satisfied divine justice,
and He abolished sin, and He abolished death, took away death's
sting, and took away the penalty for sin for His people. And we
have nothing to fear. All that was against us, He took
it away by the sacrifice of Himself. Isn't that a blessed thought?
Isn't that a blessed thought? But back to where we began for
a moment, back in Hebrews 9.22. I'll go back there real quick. Without shedding of blood is
no remission. I believe this is a good answer
in the affirmative as well as in the negative. And what I mean
by that is in the affirmative that the believer by faith can
see Christ as his substitute and satisfaction before God.
God's satisfied with me because I'm in Christ. In his salvation,
the believer's salvation has been secured by the shedding
of his blood that satisfied God's holy justice on my behalf. And that is to say that Christ,
the perfect sinless substitute and sacrifice for sin, He undertook
on my behalf. And as we sing in that song,
He interposed His precious blood and covered me, covered my sins
with His precious blood and washed me white as snow. And now I fully
rest. You can rest there. You can fully
rest. It's done. It's been done. It was done. It has been done. Nothing more to do but rest. All that's left is rest. Oh me,
and now I fully rest in Him, that troubled, screaming, accusing
conscience that constantly will accuse us. There's nothing to
you. You can't be a Christian. It
quiets that conscience, because we've got a perfect sacrifice
that puts it to rest. Without doubt, Christ is my perfect
sacrifice. So this is a good statement to
use in the affirmative. And in the negative, it says
without shedding of blood is no remission. No. You know, that's probably the
strongest word in the English language. Your child says, Daddy,
can I go outside? No. I mean, there's a finality
to that. There's no question about what
did you mean when you said no, although sometimes they don't
understand no, I realize that. But it's probably the strongest
and most meaningful word in the English language. I said a moment
ago, it's simple. It's clearly understood by all.
It's singular. It's very concise. We don't need
to bring in an interpreter. It's exclusive. It rules out
all other possibilities. And it's final. It puts an end
to any discussion. And that's the statement we're
dealing with. You can say this. You can say
that. Propose this or propose that without shedding of blood
is no remission. And it puts all men on the same
level, kings and paupers, rich and poor, moral and immoral,
church people and harlots, learned and unlearned, weak and strong.
And some may say, religious people say, I'm a pretty good Christian. I read my Bible a lot. I pray
every day. I've not missed a church service
in 25 years. I've lived a clean life. I help the poor. I'm a
good husband. I'm a good wife. I'm a good mom,
a good dad. I give my money and on and on
without shedding of blood. There's no remission. God is
no respecter of persons. He has respect to his son and
his son alone without shedding of blood. There's no remission.
God respects his son and he looks to his son. And if we're in him,
we're safe and secure. If He shed His blood and covered
our sin, that's our only hope. We can say all these things.
We ought to read our Bible. We ought to pray. We ought to
attend the service. We ought to be good parents, so forth. It has nothing to do with sin
being put away, the remissions of sin. And we may sometimes,
even as believers, be impressed with ourselves Surely not. Surely not. Sad to say, we do
get puffed up, don't we? Sinful pride rears its ugly head. But remember this, that if we're
one of God's elect, our sin and its filth and its evil was laid
on our substitute. And he had to die because of
what you and I are and what you and I've done. Where's boasting? It's excluded. No boasting there. So remember when you're puffed
up, without shedding a blood, there's no remission, no forgiveness
of sins. Doesn't this leave us without
hope outside of Christ Jesus, substitutionary death? But thanks
be to God, in Christ, there is acceptance with God. All bless
his name. Romans 8, verse 34 says, Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that hath died. Yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who is he that condemneth? Christ died. There's remission
for sins, all is well. Romans 8, verse 1 says, There
is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
Over and over and over, our hope is in Christ, who He is, what
He did for us, and where we are, and where God views us. Well,
the question comes, why blood? Why death? That's awful severe. That's severe. And you hear religious
talk all the time on the radio and the TV and people you talk
to. You don't hear religious folks
talk about this, blood, sacrifice, substitution, where God the Son
was slaughtered because of what we are, because of what we've
done. It's a bloody religion. There's
blood from Genesis through Revelation. Blood. It talks about blood.
We think by nature it's too severe. We naturally think this way.
We naturally think there's some redeeming goodness in men, in
us. Surely God wouldn't send me to
hell and eternally punish me for my sins. That's an awful
place. Surely I don't deserve that. My children don't deserve
that. Surely there's some redeeming
quality that God would have to take me to heaven. But doesn't
Calvary teach us otherwise? Doesn't Calvary give us a clear
picture of what God does to a sinner? When Christ stood as our substitute,
the apple of His eye, the beloved perfect Son of God, He poured
out His wrath on His dear Son. Without reservation, without
mercy, he poured out his wrath on his darling son. We read of
some people in 2 Corinthians 10 and verse 12, it says, there
are those that it is said of them, but they measuring themselves
by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise. That's not a smart thing to do.
You all compare yourself to me, you're going to come out looking
pretty good. But we must look to God and His Word, not to ourselves. We're created beings. God has
made us, and He's made everything that we see and we touch. He's
the Creator, all-wise and all-powerful, all-knowing. We must look to
God and to his word, not to ourselves and those just like us. When
we look at other than God's word, we always put man too high, don't
we? And we put God way too low. And
we make sin a like thing. And we come to the conclusion
in our minds, in our reasoning, in our thinking, because we go
by what our physical eye sees and what our depraved heart thinks
and feels. We come to the conclusion that
eternal death for sin is surely not warranted. Surely no one's
that bad. But we must believe God in this
matter. Sin is much, much worse than
we think it to be. Look to Him who judges righteously,
truthfully, in righteousness. When we view sin as God sees
it, and even with the light of Scripture and the light that
the Holy Spirit gives us as we look into this, it's a veiled
view. We don't know it fully, anything
regarding God or eternal things. But we come to this conclusion,
sin must be an awful thing. It must be far worse than we
believe it to be. Beyond anything awful that we
can imagine, for God to pour out His unrestrained wrath on
such a beautiful Savior, such a perfect being, the apple of
His eye, His delight, the perfect Son of God, Sin must be more
than we think it to be. So let's, if God's given you
an interest in how can my sin be pardoned, oh my, flee to him. Flee to him now. We know this
much about sin. When it's left unrestrained by
God Almighty, and I include me, and I include you, when it's
left unrestrained, we would, with full-blown hatred in our
hearts, kill God. That's what happened at Calvary. God removed the restraint, and
we killed God. And our hearts and our souls
would be fully engaged in the deed. You remember, They didn't
just nail him to a cross and walk off and leave him to die.
They spit on him. They showed their disgust and
anger at him. They railed on him. They put
a crown of thorns on his head with hatred in their hearts,
fully engaged. And when I think of that, I say,
thank God he does restrain us to a measure. He restrains most
people in this world. Thank God He does, and I pray
He continues to do that. And thank God He saved me and
given me life and a nature. He's given me His nature that
abhors sin and hates sin and would be free from it. And thank
God He has defeated and conquered sin and has made an end to it.
Aren't you glad? Sin's going to be put down and
put away and made an end of. We're going to live in a world
where there is no sin. I'm so glad, knowing what little
we know about sin, how wonderful it must be to live where there
is no sin. He's made an end of it, thanks
be to God. He's put it away. He's come and
all that are against Him and His people is going to be eternally
separated from all that's good and righteous and holy, never
to be tormented by them again. We'll soon be eternally separated
from all that are made holy in Christ, never to torment us again. Christ, knowing that awful price,
He said, I'll go and I'll pay that price. Can you ever get
over that? And let me close with this glorious
truth, and that is that this remission is a present fact and
reality. It is done. The blood having
been already shed, the remission is already obtained. Hebrews
9.24 says, For Christ is not entered into the holy places
made with hands, which are the figures of the true but into
heaven itself now, to appear in the presence of God for us.
You see, Christ, one preacher said, I heard here recently,
Christ had an assignment. What was his assignment? Book
of Matthew says, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. That's his assignment. They gave
him the name. That's his name. And he did not
make an attempt at it, but he fully and completely accomplished
his assignment. He cried, it's finished. It's
finished. And the scriptures declare, and
we can say with absolute certainty, no doubt at all, absolute certainty,
that every soul for whom Christ died Their sins are gone. We read that a moment ago about
that new covenant. I'll remember their sins no more.
How can God not remember? Can't explain that. But they're
gone. They're not there. That's a glorious
truth. Oh, that's a glorious truth.
The scripture declares and we can say with absolute certainty
that every soul for whom he died, their sins are gone. They're
taken away. There's no remembrance of them.
and his people are complete in him and fit for heaven and shall
never be lost. Tis done, the great transaction's
done. Oh, you may ask if you're seeking,
have interest. Oh, you may ask, how can I get
God to save me? Well, I say you can't. You can't
make God do anything. Salvation is fixed, it's done,
it's complete, and God's choosing. God's electing his people are
done, and he changeth not. And this is where a proud man
just grits his teeth. God can't be that way. God can't
make a choice. I've got a choice in this matter.
So what am I to do? Well, ask the question, how can
I know if Christ died for me? Well, the scripture tells us
exactly who he died for, and I want us to look at it together.
Romans chapter 5. Look at verse 6. It tells us
plainly, for when we were yet without strength, In due time,
Christ died for the ungodly. Is that you? Is that all you
are? Are you something more than that? Something beyond that? If you're ungodly, Christ died
for you. I just read it in Scripture.
Is that all you are? Flee to Him at once. He died
for you. And what shall be the end of
those for whom Christ died? Turn with me again one more time
to Revelation 7. And verse 13. And one of the elders answered,
saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes,
and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou
knowest. And he said to me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed
their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore
are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night
in his temple, and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among
them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither
shall the sun light on them, nor any heat, for the Lamb which
is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead
them unto living fountains of waters and God shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes. Oh me, my sin, oh the bliss of
this glorious thought is nailed to his cross, that bloody cross
where his blood was shed and I bear it no more. Praise the
Lord. It is well with my soul. Jesus
paid it all. All to him I owe. I thank you for your kind attention. Let's pray and we'll be dismissed.
Our kind and gracious and merciful Heavenly Father, how we do thank
You for Your blessed Word that does so encourage us in our believing
and our trusting. Our hearts are made glad by what
You revealed to us regarding Christ, our blessed Redeemer,
who shed His blood and died, that He might put away our sins.
Help us to be mindful of that and to be mindful of Him and
what we owe Him. And we pray that You continue
to be mindful of us and keep us, keep us believing, keep us
trusting, keep us loving Him and worshiping and honoring and
praising Him who alone is worthy. Remember those that's mentioned,
our pastor and his wife as they travel and Brother Gary. Pray
that all would be well and he'd be back with us on Wednesday.
Go with us as we leave this place to our homes and our jobs. Don't
leave us to ourselves. May we continue to look to You
in all things, in Christ's name, amen.