If you would and you wanna follow
along, would you please turn to Hebrews chapter nine. Hebrews
chapter nine. I'm gonna begin reading in verse
22. Mainly because if I back up,
I'll have to back up to the beginning of the chapter. I don't wanna
do that. I don't wanna read that much. Hebrews nine, verse 22. 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
these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices
than these. 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. Man, if I was writing that Walter,
I would put Selah right there. Ponder on that. Nor yet that
he should offer himself often as the high priest entereth into
the holy place every year with the blood of others, For then
must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world.
But now, once in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed
unto men once 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 shall he appear the second time without sin unto
salvation. I love the book of Hebrews. I
really do. In the beginning, going back
to 1982, that's when the Lord brought me out, and then he brought
me in. The two books in the Bible that
meant the most to me in these early days was the Gospel of
Jesus Christ according to John, and the book of Hebrews. Now
I love the book of John because of the declarations in it that
Jesus Christ is God. Not became God, He was God, he
is God, and he's still God. But I also loved Hebrews because
it really helped me to see and understand a lot of my former
religious upbringing. I'm not gonna go into a lot of
detail. Now, to be honest, I don't think my family was all that
religious. But we were good Catholics. That's
why I was raised. We went to church every Sunday.
We went on every holy day of obligation, unless you were sick.
Now what a holy day of obligation is means you're obligated to
go. You're supposed to go. Ash Wednesday,
Holy Thursday, and Good Friday. And of course, Easter Sunday,
but you're supposed to be there every Sunday anyway. I mean, I knew priests, I knew
nuns, and I knew monks. Not very well, but I knew them. I was taught to reverence the
priesthood. And this mostly worked when I
was a small child. But I must confess, I did not
grow up to be the most reverent person that you've ever met. But Hebrews explained many things
to me concerning the Catholic priesthood. Walter, at the time, I didn't
get it when people said they had problems with Hebrews. They
had problems understanding it. But I had grown up around a priesthood,
not the Jewish priesthood, but around a priesthood. And the
Catholic priesthood wanted to take the place of the Jewish
priesthood. It was, it was a copy, a bad
copy. That's why they call it the sacrifice
of the mass. Because they are in charge of
the sacrifices now. Whereas in the Old Testament,
the Jewish priesthood was, excuse me. I mean, I do get it now,
Hebrews is a hard book at times. But when I read it first, I was
young, I was dumb, I was ignorant. I didn't see that much, but what
I did see, I saw a few things, I wrote them down here. And every
time I read the book of Hebrews, I see more. But here's some of
the things I saw. Because Hebrews shows us the
doing away with that old Jewish priesthood. The old high priests
and all of the old sacrifices for sin. It shows us that. Hebrews shows us there is not
also There's not a replacement for the Jewish priest to make
sacrifices, animal sacrifices. Not for atonement for sin. There is still a priesthood,
Peter says it plainly. We are a royal priesthood. And we are told in other places
we are to offer the sacrifice of praise. in prayer, in song,
in preaching, and in worship. All of those four things are
to be done praising the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ. That's the sacrifice we can do
now. But the royal priesthood, Peter
says it, it's us. Every believer is a priest. to God. Every believer is a member
of the family of God. And every believer is to pray
to God. Praise his holy name. Thirdly, Hebrew shows us also,
not the new, not the new high priest, but the true high priest. He's not a new high priest. It
doesn't say he become high priest. It says being come. And I looked
that up just to make sure. I'm pretty sure what it meant,
but I looked it up just to make sure. It's to come near. He was high
priest before he got here. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the one
who was with God in the beginning, he was God in the beginning,
and he came here, he's still God. and he left and he's still
God. But he was our high priest when
he came and while he was here. And those Old Testament high
priests looked to him. They were the types, they were
the shadow. Now in reality, in reality, all
those sacrifices happened in the Old Testament. Blood was
shed. But that blood, the blood of
bulls and goats, never took away one sin. Not one. Yes, it was to be done. And it
was to be done looking forward to the Lamb of God who was to
come. The one true high priest is that
one singular high priest. There were many high priests
in the Old Testament. They pictured and they illustrated Christ.
They weren't the true, but they pointed to him. Who is he? He's the high priest
forever. After the order of Melchizedek.
We don't know a lot about Melchizedek. And I'm gonna tell you what,
it doesn't matter what you know about Melchizedek, except this
one thing, because he wrote it in Hebrews here. How is Christ,
our high priest, like Melchizedek? Well, he was without father,
he was without mother, he was without beginning of days, and
he was without end of days. He's the high priest forever,
Jesus Christ. So, Mason got me thinking about
this. What was the job of the high
priest? Because that's what we're talking about here in Hebrews
nine. That's why I'm going through this introduction here. We're
talking about the job of the high priest. What the high priest
would do and what our true high priest, Jesus Christ, did. Now the one word that is always
associated with the high priest, especially in the Old Testament,
is this one word, atonement. And Mason mentioned at the last
dinner we were talking that a fella had wrote a paper, and he read
it online, that really we shouldn't necessarily use the word atonement
as toward Christ's high priestly work. Because the true meaning
of atonement in the Old Testament, and it's true, I looked it up
in the Hebrew, is to cover, okay? That's what it says. That's what
the Old Testament high priest did. But Mason, I got thinking
about it. I understand what the man said.
It's true, that's what the word says. And we talk about Christ's
atonement. Why? Because it's a handy word.
But we mean far more than covering. when we say this. And here's
the point that I got, okay? I don't wanna be too picky about
words, but I wanna be picky about words. But here's the point.
I don't know of one single word you can use to describe what
our Lord Jesus Christ did. It's not possible in English.
Because I can tell you this for a fact, I believe this. If you
could memorize every single word of this book and understand every
single word of this book, that's a lot bigger if than memorizing. You still won't understand all
that Christ did toward the Father and to the Father. It's not possible. John wrote it at the end of the
gospel there. It's not possible that all the books of all the
world that have ever been written could tell you of the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ. He's not the unknown God, but
I'm gonna tell you, he is unexplainable by man, and he is incomprehensible
in a lot of ways. The only thing we can know about
him is what he's revealed to us in his word. I mean, we use
words, besides atonement, we use redemption, substitution,
sanctification, justification, reconciliation. Why? To describe the work of Christ
as our high priest. So if I say atonement, you just
think all that stuff. Because that's what I mean. There's
no one word that you can use to explain it. But I don't wanna
have to say every time, you know, redemption, substitution, sanctification,
justification, atonement, and reconciliation, because there's
more than that. These are just words we use to
express what Jesus Christ has done for us and has done to us
by his one offering. We gotta break it down, folks.
There's no other way we can do it. So I understand his point,
Mason. I mean, I do. But I'm not gonna
stop using the word atonement. Don't worry. I got my own dictionary
besides Webster's. Because the Old Testament priest,
that was his main job. Once a year was what? The day
of atonement. the day of atonement, and it
says it here, that he went in with blood for himself. Our Lord Jesus Christ didn't
need any bloodshed for himself. The Old Testament's priest did.
The Old Testament high priest did. He couldn't go into the
Holy of Holies without blood. That's right. He was a sinner just like every
other priest. You mean the priests of God were
sinners? Yes, I do. Yes, I do. And guess
what? We still are. We still are. You know why? Because we still
need our high priests. The blood's been shed once. The
offering's been made once to God by our high priest, Jesus
Christ. and he ever liveth to make intercession
for us. Why? Because we need intercession
every day. We're still sinners. Like I said,
I don't think there is a word that you can use one word to
describe our Lord's work. There ain't one. There's not
one. But in chapter nine here of Hebrews,
we see a part of the high priestly work of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. Verse 22 says, and almost all
things were by the law purged with blood. Without shedding
of blood, there's no remission. I love that verse, I do. Almost
everything by the law was purged with blood. It starts up in verse
19. For Moses had spoken the precept to all the people according
to the law. He took, what? The blood of calves
and of goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled
both the book and the people. What'd he say? This is the blood
of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover,
moreover, he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the
vessels of the ministry. For by the law, most things were
purged by blood. Why? Because it was looking forward
to the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. What's it called? The precious blood of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And what did they do? where it
says, and almost all things are by the law purged with blood.
You know what that word is? It's the same word in the next
verse. Purified. Purified. Cleansed. Cleansed. The tabernacle itself,
the altars, the furniture, and the vessels were purged by blood
and blood alone. There's no substitute. And just
this, so you understand, It wasn't just any blood. It had to be
the blood of a clean animal. There are those now that are
practicing the Day of Atonement with a chicken. Don't ask me
how they come up with that, I don't know and I don't really care.
I suspect rampant ignorance. And I also suspect rampant gullibility
of people. It had to be a clean animal's
blood. Calves and goats is what it said. because this is a key teaching,
I believe, of the scripture. Without shedding of blood, there
is no remission. That's the title, Paul. Shed blood, remission. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. Now I confessed a while back
that I used to quote that wrong. I would say without blood there's
no remission of sins. And I left that word out, shedding.
And I apologize again for doing that because that's wrong. That's
wrong. It's not just without blood,
it's without shedding of blood. And Earl Cochran was right. He
was most of the time, not all the time. It's not that our Lord
Jesus Christ's blood was spilt. It wasn't spilt, it was shed. And I don't know if he went into
this in the scripture. If he did, I wasn't paying attention
or I forgot. I do that a lot. But here's the
point. I looked at this word shedding
of blood. The word shedding. And I don't
remember this. The literal translation is the
word effusion. Effusion, E-F-F-U-S-I-O-N, okay? I didn't know what it meant for
sure, so I had to look it up. Well, I know what effusive means,
and that's basically what this means. Effusive means that something
naturally is gonna come out. There are people who are described,
some people are described as effusive. The other word they
use sometimes is they have a bubbly personality, okay? They can't help it. These people
can't help it. This is the way they are naturally.
There's a bubbliness, a cheerfulness, a almost crazy optimism, and
it comes out of them, and they are happy, and they stand up,
and they'll bounce, and they'll talk to you, and they get so
excited about things, and it's gonna come out. They can't help,
they can't stop themselves. Well, this is an effusion of
blood. That blood was made to come out. It had to come out. It was going
to come out, no matter what man did. You know why? Because he
was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. He was killed, murdered, tortured,
and then murdered for our sins, for our transgressions. and his blood was gonna come
out. You understand, after he died,
they did put a spear in his side. What'd it say? Out came forth
blood and water. Out came forth blood and water. You know why? Because it had
to. It was all part of the plan. Those men, that Roman soldier
that pierced him in the side, he was already dead. That Roman
soldier that pierced him in the side did not spill our Lord's
blood. It was shed. It was shed. It was an effusion of blood. Because I'm gonna tell you something
about effusive people. To some, effusive people, bubbly
people, happy people, can really be annoying. But to others, those
effusive people can be contagious. They can make other people happy
just by the fact that they're happy, and they're so happy. I'm gonna tell you something
about the shed blood of Christ. Some people, it's the greatest
thing that ever happened. It's the most wonderful thing
that ever happened. The effusion of blood, and it
seems very strange to say this, the effusion of blood, the shedding
of my Lord's blood makes me happy, Walter. It gives me joy. He came and came for this purpose
to shed his blood for his people. And I think I am one. I have
a part in this. The only reason I've got a part
in it is because he gave it to me. But that blood coming forth was
not an accident. It was not a mistake. There was
an idiot preacher one time, and I'll call him idiot preacher
to his face if he's still alive. that said the crucifixion of
Christ was the worst mistake ever made. David told me that,
McCollum. And if I'd have been there, it
never would have happened. And I'm thinking, yeah, if you'd
have been there, God would have struck you dead if you'd gotten away.
Because that was going to happen. You ought to go against the determinant
counsel and for knowledge of God, you go right ahead, I'm
gonna stand back over here. I don't know what it is most
of the time. But I do know this. I may not have known it if I
was there, but I do know this now. That crucifixion was planned
before the foundation of the world. And that blood was shed
before the foundation of the world in the mind of Christ and
in the mind of God. And without shedding of blood,
there is no remission. Now, onto remission. Now I'm
pretty sure I knew this, but I have to confess if I didn't
know it, I'd forgotten it. It's pretty humbling to realize
that you can really forget glorious things about our Lord Jesus Christ. I find it humbling to realize
that I can forget things about him. Important things. And yet I can remember the words
to a song from 50 years ago. That's the way I am. I'm a failure as a memorizer
of scripture. But the one guy I know who used
to boast on knowing every word of the scripture and memorize
it all, when he opened his mouth, he made sure that you knew he
didn't know anything about it. Because he missed the whole point.
I don't know if he's dead yet or not, but it doesn't matter. It is, it's humbling. But here,
the primary meaning of this word remission, The literal meaning
is this one word, and I love this word, freedom. Freedom. Without the effusion of blood,
there's no freedom. Now, it also means deliverance.
What's that mean? You've been set free. It means
pardon. What's that mean? You've been
set free. You was guilty. That's what a
pardon is. You were guilty, and you're set
free. That's what deliverance means.
You were delivered from where you should be, condemned. But
you set free. Ah, without the shedding of blood,
without the effusion of blood, there's no freedom. There's no
freedom. I love that. Because there has
been an effusion of blood. because our Lord Jesus Christ's
blood has been shed. There's no freedom, there's no
pardon, there's no deliverance without his blood. Absolutely none. Y'all preach
a bloody religion. Yeah, but it's not my blood.
It's not your blood. It's his blood. It's his blood. And I talked with Earl a while
back, because you get to study in the Old Testament sacrifice,
what are they doing? They're over there killing goats and calves
and turtle doves and whatever else, you know? Bulls, sheep. It was a bloody religion. Earl
said it was a slaughterhouse. Butcher shop. Why? Because without blood, there's
no remission. There were only a couple of sacrifices
in the Old Testament that didn't have blood in them. That's all. There was the meat offering,
they called it the meat offering, and that's what it says, meat
offering, and that was flour and oil. You know what that makes? That makes bread. What Christ
say? I'm the bread of life. He's what? You eat my flesh, it's meat. It's meat. He's the bread of
life. Anyway. Without blood, there's no freedom.
Without shedding of blood, there's no freedom. I said it again. The glorious thing about that
statement Without shedding of blood, there is no freedom. The
glorious thing about that statement is this. This is the fact that
the opposite is exactly true. With the shedding of blood, with
the effusion of blood, there is freedom. There is freedom. And you know what? You have nothing
to do with it. It's all the power of His blood
being shed. Being shed. What did our Lord Jesus Christ
say? I'm just gonna read it to you, John 8, 36. If, if, if the
Son of God therefore, if the son, excuse
me, if the son therefore shall make you free. And stop there. Ye shall be free indeed. Indeed. Indeed, you are free
if he makes you free. And how is he gonna make us free?
With the shedding of his own precious blood. The only true freedom is in Christ. And it's by Christ. What do you mean? Well, I mean
that without Christ, there is only death and slavery. Slavery to sin and death. Last time we were here, talked
about it. Out of the depths I have cried.
Talked about David. Out of the horrible pit, out
of the deep miry clay have I cried unto the Lord. And I told you
this, you're not gonna cry out of the
depths or out of the pit or out of the clay until you know you're
in it. And you've been in it your whole life. and you didn't
know it. And I said, Christ, our Lord,
he'll make you see you're in a pit. Now here's the other point
I didn't bring out, I don't think I did, I meant to, but I didn't.
Here's the other point. Not only will he make you see
you're in the pit, he's gonna make you see that you know you
belong there. We need deliverance. Why? Because we're down here in a
pit where we belong. We needed to be set free. And them Jews stood up and said,
oh, we're Abraham's seed, we've never been in bondage. And I'm
thinking, don't mention Egypt, don't mention Babylon, don't
mention Persia, don't mention Assyria. and don't mention Rome,
who's right there at the time. You understand? People will lie
to God to his face. And it's happening every day
right now. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no freedom. And if the Son shall make you
free, you're gonna be free indeed. without his blood. He purchased us. What? With his own blood. With his
own blood. He had to make us free because
we couldn't free ourselves. We were there. We were in the
depths. We were in the miry clay. We
were stuck in the horrible pit. and he made us to know where
we were, that we deserve to be there. When you cry the Lord,
you're crying out for mercy, or you're not crying out to the
Lord. And you're crying out for mercy because you are where you
deserve to be, and you don't want to be where you deserve
to be. That's what mercy is, undeserved
kindness. I deserve to have been there.
He could have left me in there and been just, he would have
been just as just. He'd have been just as right
and he'd have been just as holy as he still is if he'd have left
me there. But by his grace, he pulled me
out of the horrible pit. He cleaned my shoes of the deep
miry clay. And then he set my feet on a
rock and he's guiding my way. He's guiding my way when I'm
too dumb to see it. It's okay, I trust him. I don't
trust me, nothing personal, I don't trust you. But I trust him. He knows where you're going and
how you're getting there. And he knows when you're gonna
stumble and fall on the way. And you will. I do. And you will. So cheer up. Because with the shedding of
blood, there is freedom. Freedom, wow. What is it? Where, where, I love the point
that's out. Where sin abounded. Where sin
abounded. Where? Right here. Grace did much more about. Oh, how is that possible? With
the shedding of blood, there is freedom. In Jesus Christ. Heavenly Father, thank you for
this time and this place. Thank you for your Son's precious
blood, with which he purchased us and is bringing us into the
fold. We were sheep already, and you've
other sheep you have, and them you must bring into the fold,
and you shall, and we will rejoice. In Christ's name we pray, amen.