We'll look at the blood and cross of Christ
this morning. The blood and cross of Christ. Now, without question, well,
let me read Hebrews 10 first. Hebrews 10, and we'll look at
verse 19, but, Let's start in verse 16 of Hebrews
chapter 10. This is the covenant that I will
make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my
laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them.
And their sins and iniquities, excuse me, their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. Now, where remission of these
is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the
veil, that is to say his flesh, and having a high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled, sprinkled by
the blood from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure
water. Let us hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised. We're going to look at verse
19, having therefore brethren boldness, boldness to enter into
the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by the blood of Jesus Christ
without question the foundation of all things biblical and I
thought about this statement and I know sometimes we will
raise certain things in the Bible more important than others. This
is not my intention but I will say without question the foundation
of all things biblical is based upon the blood. The blood. It was established by God very
early in the scriptures regarding the importance our sovereign
put upon the blood. Turn to Leviticus 17. Leviticus chapter 17. And this is the gospel basically
in one verse. Leviticus 17 and verse 11. Leviticus 17. And verse 11, for the life of
the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the
altar to make an atonement for your souls. For it is the blood
that makes an atonement for the soul. Now this was pictured,
this is the gospel, picture of the gospel. Christ's blood on
the altar on Calvary. is made an atonement, or made
at-one-ment, the sinner and the Savior for the soul. I want to dwell upon this important
topic, the blood of Christ for a little while, and then move
to the cross of Christ and see how it relates to the church,
to God's people. So first, the blood of Christ.
And when I say the blood of Christ, and when the scripture speaks
about the blood of Christ, it's speaking about his righteousness,
his life for us. The blood of Christ cleanses
us from all sins. His righteousness, who he is,
the person, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ for the sinner,
for the sinner. We have boldness to enter the
holiest by the blood of Christ. And this is such an important
topic that the old writer said, this is the scarlet thread that
goes all the way through. What did Rahab? She went down
on a scarlet. She went down and was protected
from Jericho's destruction by the crimson thread, the rope,
the blood of Christ. So what that picture is, the
blood of Christ, his righteousness, as God must deal with us through
a proper, the proper substitute. Substitute in the scriptures,
the scapegoat, one of them gets his hand, you know, put the hand
on the other, put the hand on and slay, Blood must be spilled
without the shedding of blood. The scripture says there is no
forgiveness of sins. And I say our religion is one
of blood and substitution. When we talk about the gospel,
we talk about the blood of Christ, the person of Christ, his righteousness
and substitution. He took our place because we
could not satisfy God's demands. So God must also see successful
results. that this intercession had. He must see if he's gonna send
his son, who was tempted at all points like we, yet without sin,
if he was the perfect, holy, harmless, pure substitute, this
intercessory work, his shedding of his blood, voluntarily, God
must see the success of that. He must see a suitable offering. We see that in Leviticus 22,
21. It must be perfect. He says that
the sacrifice or the offering must be perfect. So the words
he uses. So in this sacrifice, in this
intercessory work, in this blood spilling of this beloved, darling
son of God, he will see a suitable offering. It must be perfect.
Leviticus 22. He must secondly see a worthy
sacrifice. And in Revelations, you see that
word worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is
the Lamb that was slain. His blood was shed. Thirdly,
the shedding of, he must behold a shedding of perfect, pure,
and holy blood. We see that in Hebrews 9. We
must also see, because there's a reason for that blood to be
shed, God's righteousness must be honored, His law must be satisfied,
but there must be a high crime. If there was no crime, if there
was no sin, there would not need to be a substitute. So there
must be a high crime, that's us and our sinfulness. And lastly,
God must see and understand and acknowledge the complete ratification
or acceptance of this righteous act of Christ for us. That's
all of Isaiah 53, one place. He shall see the travail of his
soul and be satisfied. And he also sat on the cross
at Calvary. It is finished. God's satisfied. And he's seated at God's right
hand. Another sign of acceptance. So these five things will God
note and he must see in order for this substitution, this bloodletting,
this blood sacrifice to be accepted. So, as with our God, so with
us. The blood of Christ is paramount
in our lives with God and suitable or necessary in our walk with
God. Let me give you some examples.
Why is this? We talk about the blood sacrifice. So our religion is a bloody sacrifice,
is a bloody religion, one person said. Let me give you some examples. In all true prayer, which is
Romans or Hebrews chapter 10, in all true prayer, tremendous
stress is laid upon the blood of Christ. We have access, boldness
to enter into the holiest by, because of the blood of Christ. So this blood, the blood of Christ
is essential, is necessary. Yeah, I'll do that. Thank you,
Melinda. I just scratched my nose. And I will say this, and
one, I think it was Octavius Winslow, he said this, it should
be noted where the blood of Christ is overlooked, and that is when
we pray in the name of Christ. And when we say the name of Christ,
we're speaking of his sacrifice, his substitution, his life for
us, where the blood of Christ is overlooked. This is where
spiritual declension, and I know that he, Octavius really liked
that word, spiritual declension. We would call it backsliding.
We would call it lukewarmness. We would call, like in the Revelations,
the church, the one church, you've left your first love. When we
begin to walk, when we begin to leave our first love, it often
starts with we forget the blood. That's how important our religion
is. The blood of Christ. Not just any blood. It begins
and there's no power with God is experienced when we forget
about the blood. When we turn our back as it were,
if we turn our face towards the things of the world and the things
that are shiny and money and positions and titles and all
these things. We spend too much time worrying
about what we should wear, what we're going to eat, and he says
don't do that because the Heavenly Father knows these things. And
because Christ died, that's one of the things he died for us
is to satisfy our needs. And we have those basic physical
needs, but usually when we forget the blood, the person, the work
of Christ is when coldness sets in, coldness sets in. God regards
not the nicety of words and you've heard them and I've heard of
people who pray and they just seem like it's just so gorgeous.
He doesn't regard the niceties of our words. He doesn't regard
the smoothness of verbal expressions or the brilliance in grammar.
but he regards the blood and righteousness of his own son
on our behalf. That's why I like it in Romans,
and I never really thought about it until the other day when I
was looking at this, in Romans chapter eight, he talks about
groanings, which cannot be uttered or cannot be, it's unspeakable,
groanings. Well, that's not an oppressive
prayer. If it's got the blood, it is. It sure is. And I remember a couple years
ago, I looked at certain cries, which are prayers, and some of
the most powerful cries were spontaneous, led by the Holy
Spirit, like Peter, Lord, save me ere I perish. Six words. The
thief on the cross, Lord, remember me. My point is, is our prayers
need to be perfumed by the blood of Christ. And not, we don't
need all those words, oftentimes words. Matter of fact, it was
said of the Pharisees, they thought they were gonna be unpleasing
to God for their much speaking, much speaking. So the blood of
Emmanuel is the perfume, the essence of true prayer, also,
Secondly, it is the blood of Christ that satisfies justice,
like we saw in Leviticus, atonement. Satisfaction of God's justice
was through the blood of Christ. Thirdly, it is the blood which
meets and exceeds all the demands of the law. Everything that the
law demanded, the blood answered. That's in Ephesians chapter two.
Fourthly, it is the holy and pure flowing stream which brings
down, you think about this, brings down every blessing to us, to
the believer. Every blessing flows through
the blood of Christ. That's Exodus chapter 12. It
is this blood and only this blood of sprinkling, which is the fulfillment
of his last will and testament to all his people. Hebrews chapter
nine, starting in verse 14, talks about the death of the testator.
The death, that's blood, that's shed, that's substitution. Fifthly, every precious legacy. People talk about legacies now.
What's my legacy? This and that. Simply, every
precious outcome or inheritance that we will possess comes to
us solely on account of his death, substitution, his burial, and
resurrection, John 18. Everything comes to us because
of the blood of Christ. And also, not least important,
by the blood of the Lamb, this is in Revelations 12, by the
blood of the Lamb, that's His work, His righteousness, His
substitutionary effect for us. Do the saints overcome our great
adversary and the church's great enemy? Isn't that what He says
in Revelations? By the blood of the Lamb we are
victorious and overcame. That's the only way, that's the
only reason. So sinner, or sinners? Do we own our own sins? Do we
own our own corruptions? Do we own our own vile selves? If so, there's hope, there's
mercy, there's comfort in the blood of Christ. Not only can
you approach, but not only do you have, we have boldness to
enter the holiest by the blood of Christ. But we, the access
to the promises are yes and amen in Christ. Covenant is ours. All these things, this inheritance
is ours through the blood of Christ, our great martyr lamb.
Come unto Him and live evermore. Don't delay. Come unto Him and
live evermore. Now, I said there's two things
I want to talk about. The blood of Christ and the cross
of Christ. Now, how are we to characterize
this new life in Christ? What are we to expect? Well,
To tie this whole thing together, the beginnings of the child of
grace, of the grace of God, as we begin this walk in this life,
it's blood. There's blood here, there's blood
there. There's blood-bought redemption, blood-bought repentance, blood-bought
justification, blood-bought love, and this is all done outside
of this. But then there's something else. There's walking. with Christ. That's the cross
of Christ. Lastly, turn with me to Luke chapter 23. And I'd
never seen this until actually the other day. So we'll all learn
together here. Luke chapter 23. You're familiar with the story.
You're familiar with the story. Luke chapter 23. Verse 24, and Pilate, this is
Christ in his crucifixion leading up to it, gave sentence that
it should be as they required, which is verse 23, that he should
be crucified, requiring that Christ might be crucified. Verse
25, and he released unto them him, that was for sedition and
murder, was cast into prison, whom they
desired, but he, that is Pilate, delivered Jesus to their will."
Now look at this. And as they led Christ away,
they lay hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the
country. He wasn't even a citizen. And
on Simon, they laid the cross. that he might bear it after Jesus. So we have the blood of Christ,
which is essential, which is a cornerstone of our religion,
which is a cornerstone of our faith, which is a cornerstone
of our hope, our justification, sanctification, righteousness.
But after that, the Lord saves us, the Lord deals with us. Now
what? Simon, carrying the cross, I
believe is a picture of the walk or life of the church throughout
all generations at all times. We, like Simon, bear Christ's
cross as we sojourn here. As we sojourn here, we carry
the cross. And he does talk about carry your cross, bearing your
cross. Christ, did not endure the cross
so we may escape it. But rather, we suffer with him
as his dear children, as his dear children. But remember this,
and this is what I, I just completely never saw this. Remember this. Well, as with Simon, it is not
our cross, but Christ's. He suffered. He hung on the cross. He bore the blame forever and
put our sins, cast them into the sea, threw them behind his
back to be remembered no more. But we have a cross to carry.
But it is really not our cross. We're bought with a price. We're
not our own. Simeon, as we endured through
it all, Christ, so shall we. Christ bore the reproach, so
shall we. But it is his cross, not ours. So with the temptation, he says
he will give us sufficient aid to get through it. And another
thing is we're just carrying it. We're just, it's just a short
time. It's a short time. We are just
carrying it. We were not placed upon it to experience the unimaginable
hatred, torment, or pain. We only carry it after Him. And we have a companion. Christ
was right there. He was right there. And some
historians, and I'd never read this, started reading about this
cross. Actually, many historians say
that He carried part of it. He didn't carry the whole thing.
I don't know. I don't know. I do know this,
that cross, when it got to where it was going, Simeon, it wasn't his. Christ
was going to bear it alone. But he had a companion. They
walked together to Golgotha. He's always with us. He leads
us, we follow. He went to heaven, we shall follow
him there. He prepared a place for us. He's
promised all of his elect bride, the church, he's prepared a place
for us. Also remember, it was just for
a little time, a little space that Simon carried the cross
on which our gracious Lord was crucified. We may suffer at the
hands of the enemies of grace, but it's really only a little
while. And we must count it dear, count the cost. And I close with
this. Remember this. For I reckon, says Paul, that
the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us to us. So it's his cross. It's a privilege. It's an honor. The blood of Christ,
our mercy. The cross of Christ, our privilege. And you say, well, how can it
be a privilege? If you die without the blood,
you'll understand the horror and the torment of death and
separation from Christ. plead his blood, and carry his
cross. Jeremy, would you close us please?