Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. I've entitled the message for
this morning, Who is the Blood for? Who is the blood for? And I'm of course speaking of
the blood that the Lord Jesus Christ shed on Calvary's tree. Who is the blood for? Now, when
Noah left the ark, we read where God said, every moving thing
that liveth shall be meat for you. Even as the green herb have
I given you all things, but flesh with the life thereof, which
is the blood thereof, shall you not eat. And surely your blood
of your lives will I require, at the hand of every beast will
I require it, and at the hand of every man, at the hand of
every man's brother will I require the life of man." Now, right
after Noah, came off the ark, God said, you can eat anything,
but the blood of that animal you eat is not for your consumption. That was given before the giving
of the law. And then we read in Leviticus
chapter 17, and whatsoever man, this is verse 10, this is the
law, and whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel or
of the strangers that sojourn among you that eateth any manner
of blood, I will even set my face against that soul that eateth
blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For the life
of the flesh is in the blood, and I've given it to you upon
the altar to make an atonement for your souls, for it's the
blood that maketh atonement for the soul." In the Levitical law,
we were commanded to not eat blood. And then in Acts chapter
15, The church at Jerusalem writes a letter to the church at Antioch. The church at Jerusalem represented
the Jewish believers. The church at Antioch were the
Gentile believers. And the church pastored by James
writes this letter, and he says in verse 28 in this letter, for
it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no
greater burden than these necessary things. that you abstain from
meats offered to idols and from blood." Now, this is after the
law. The early church was told not
to eat blood. Now, this was not keeping a Levitical
law. You don't have to worry about
all the other ceremonial laws, but this one you do. He's not
saying that at all. This is a gospel issue. Now my
question is, why? Why this command against the
consumption of blood? And there is a very simple answer. The blood is not for me or you. The blood is for God. Now understand, for God to do
something, For me or you, He first had to do something for
Himself. And that's what the shedding
of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is all about. It's God
doing something for Himself. making a way for him to do something
for me or you. That is what the blood is for. It is for God. God said, when I see the blood,
not when you see it, When I see the blood, I will pass over you. In the book of Leviticus, when
we're given all those laws concerning the sacrifices, the blood was
said over 50 times to be set before the Lord, before the face
of the Lord, before His eyes. For God to embrace me or you,
He had to do something for Himself. You see, God could not embrace
me and you the way we are because he's holy. We're sinful. So he had to do something for
himself about our sin before he could accept me or you. The blood is for God. Now the book that we call the
Bible, is about the character of God. That's why he's given
this book, to show us who he is, his character, his holiness. The Bible is given to show the
true character of man, altogether sinful. That would describe me,
that would describe you. altogether sinful. The scripture
says even our righteousnesses before God are as filthy rags. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. And the Bible tells us how a
holy God can embrace a sinful man through the blood atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of Christ is what this
book is about. The blood of Christ is everything
in salvation. Now I've heard men say with regards
to the blood that this is barbaric. This is a slaughterhouse religion
talking about so much blood being shed. Why does blood have to
be shed? Why does the Bible make such
an emphasis on sacrifice and blood and so on? Now, my dear
friend, let me say this. If I make any apology, about
preaching on the blood. It's that I don't preach on the
blood enough, and that I don't make it clear enough. It is the
blood that maketh atonement for the soul. When Paul summarized
his preaching, he said, we preach Christ crucified. That's the same thing as saying
the blood shedding of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's tree. He went so far as to say, I determined
not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The shedding of His blood. Paul said in Galatians 6.14,
God forbid that I should glory, that I should have confidence
in anything, save the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, the place
of the shedding of His blood. Now, the first thing that I would
like us to consider is whose blood was shed. Remember, we're
considering who is the blood for. Well, first of all, whose
blood was shed? This is the blood of the God-man. Paul said to the Ephesian elders,
feed the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. This is the blood of the God-man. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. The only reason I cannot be condemned
is because of who it was that died for me. Now, if I died for
you, it wouldn't do you any good. But we're not talking about just
the death of some son of Adam. We're talking about the death
of the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, by His own blood, the
scripture says. Hebrews 9, verse 12, by His own
blood. He was the one who brought His
blood to the Father. You see, the blood is not offered
to me or you. It's not brought to me or you
to where we can accept it or reject it or receive it or not
receive it. The blood is brought to God by
His own blood. He entered once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Now, this
blood is eternal blood. Christ is called the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. You see, before there was ever
a sinner, there was a Savior. And God's eternal purpose is
the slaying of the Son of God as the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. And really, this book, the Bible,
can only be interpreted in light of that verse. The blood of Jesus
Christ, God's Son, is God's eternal purpose. It's the most God-like
thing God ever did, and it's His eternal purpose. The world was created, the universe
was created, Adam fell for this purpose, the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. His blood is the only sinless,
innocent blood. His blood is the blood of the
Son of God, it's God's blood. Somebody says, how can God have
blood? God's a spirit. God is a spirit. But the second
person of the Godhead, the Lord Jesus Christ, is man, the God
man. He became flesh 2,000 years ago,
and he still has blood pumping through his veins. There's a
man in glory, and his blood is innocent blood. Now, there have
been billions upon billions of people who have died over the
years, and nobody died with innocent blood. But this man, you know,
even Judas understood. He said, I betrayed the innocent
blood. Paul said he knew no sin. Pilate said, I find no fault
in him. The dying thief said, this man
had done nothing amiss. The Roman centurion said, seeing
him die, surely this was a righteous man. When Satan came, The Lord
said, with regard to him, the prince of this world hath come
and hath found nothing in me. Now, if there was something to
find, he would have found it. He's the accuser of the brethren,
but when he looked over the Lord Jesus Christ, there was no sin. His father testified, thou art
my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. He said, I do always
those things that please the father. Now, when he was made
sin, he was guilty. He didn't die in innocence in
that sense. The sins of God's people became
his sins. He took my sins and my sorrow
and made them his very own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and suffered and died alone. His blood became guilty in the
sense that my sin became his sin, the sins of the elect, the
sins of his church. He became guilty of the commission
of those and he died under the justice of God as the sin bearer. But He never sinned. Now, the fourth question I would
like to ask real briefly, but this is so important. Who was
that blood shed for? Now, was the blood of the God-man?
It was the blood of God's eternal purpose. It was the only innocent
blood ever shed. But who was that blood shed for? And you can't preach the blood
of Christ if we don't tell who his blood was shed for. And I've
already quoted this scripture, feed the church of God. which
he purchased with his own blood. Who did he purchase? The Church
of God. That represents every believer. He said, I laid down my life
for the sheep. Not everybody's a sheep. He said
to a group of people in John chapter 10, you believe not because
you're not of my sheep. He didn't say you're not my sheep
because you don't believe. He said you believe not because
you're not of my sheep. You see, Christ has a people
called his sheep, his elect. Those for whom he died are the
elect of God, those the Father gave him before the foundation
of the world. Now, 99%, and I would say that
that's a generous term, of what is called Christianity teaches
that Jesus Christ shed his blood for everybody, all men without
exception, and it's offered to you. It's up to you as to whether
or not you'll accept it or reject it, whether you'll receive it
or not receive it. His blood was shed for you, but
as far as it doing anything for you, it's up to what you do with
it. Now, my dear friend, there is
no gospel in that message. If somebody preaches that, they
do not preach the gospel if that's what you believe. You've not
believed the gospel yet. I pray that you will, but you've
not believed the gospel yet. You see, the only hope that I
have is that Jesus Christ died for me, and if you tell me that
he can die for me and I can end up in hell anyway, I will end
up in hell, and you've taken away the only hope I have. My
only hope is that the death of Christ, His precious blood, actually
saves everybody He died for. And if that's not so, then I
have no hope. Who was the blood shed for? You
can't preach the gospel and not answer this question. His blood
was shed for the elect. And then we read in Hebrews chapter
13 verse 12 that His blood is sanctifying blood. Hebrews 13,
12 says, wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people
with his own blood. Now this is very important. Most
people, most religious people, when they think of sanctification,
they think of your behavior. Now I'm not saying our behavior
is not important, but that's not what sanctification is. Sanctification
is being made holy. And the scripture says we're
sanctified by the blood. made holy by the blood. And that's
pictured in that laver. Before you could enter into the
holy place, first you had an altar, then you had a laver.
The altar was for the sacrifice. The laver doesn't represent you
cleaning your own act up. It represents the continual cleansing
of the blood. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
son, cleanseth us from all sin. It's sanctifying blood. You see,
it's blood that God is satisfied with. I love to think about that. The satisfaction of God with
the blood. God is satisfied, and the proof
of that is the resurrection. That means God's satisfied with
everybody he died for. He wouldn't have raised Christ
from the dead if he wasn't completely satisfied. He's not looking for
anything else. You see, the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ is redeeming blood. God is completely, infinitely
satisfied with what Christ did. He's not looking for anything
else because Christ made a full redemption. The price has been
paid. Peter said, for you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things, such as 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, which was verily foreordained before the foundation of the
world, but is now in these last times been made manifest to you,
who by him do believe in God." Now, we don't sing, Jesus paid
a half, the other half I owe. We sing, Jesus paid it all. All
the dead I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain.
He washed it white as snow." You see, His blood is justifying
blood. Romans 5, 9 says, being now justified
by His blood. You know what that means? His
blood makes it to where I've never sinned. I stand sinless
before God. I stand perfectly just before
God. That's what justified means.
That means I have nothing to be ashamed of. I have no guilt.
I have never sinned. That's what justification is,
a state of sinlessness. That's what the blood of Christ
accomplished. It's called in the scripture
in Colossians 1, verse 20, peacemaking blood, having made peace through
the blood of His cross. You know, people say, have you
made your peace with God? No, I've not made my peace with
God. He made my peace with God. He is our peace. Having made peace through the
blood of His cross, He made my peace with God. And because of
His blood, I have, every believer has the complete forgiveness
of sins. Ephesians 7 says, In whom we
have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Now, listen to this real carefully. Salvation does not end with the
forgiveness of sins. It begins with the full, complete
forgiveness of all sin. It doesn't end with forgiveness. If you do this, this, and this,
you'll have the forgiveness of sins. Oh, no. It begins with
the full, free, complete forgiveness of all your sins, past, present,
and future. You see, this forgiveness was
accomplished by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what I, there's many things
I love about His blood, but I love this. There is present cleansing
in the blood of Christ. 1 John 1.7 says, the blood of
Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanseth us. Present tense, right now. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
son, cleanseth us from all sin. Now here is the fact of the matter.
I am always sinning, present tense. Right now, even while
I'm preaching to you, somebody says, well, what are you doing?
All I've got to do is breathe in sin because of my sinful nature.
I never have a perfect motive for anything I do. I wouldn't
want anything that has my fingerprint on it to appear before God. continual cleansing. I get my
feet dirty every single day, and I have to have my feet washed
every day continually in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And thank God, His blood continually
cleanses from all sin. And His blood actually gives
us boldness to come into God's presence. You talk about being
a sinful person, yet you say you have boldness to come into
God's presence? Listen to this scripture. Having
therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest, the
very presence of God, by the blood of Jesus. That's where that boldness. Now,
I don't have boldness about myself. Oh, but the bold, I have complete
belief that his blood makes me acceptable in God's sight. And
that's where that boldness comes from. And I can come into the
very, holy of holies with boldness and confidence because of his
blood." Now this blood we're talking about, this blood that's
for God, is the blood once shed. You know what that means? It doesn't need to be shed anymore
because when Christ said it is finished, it was finished. Everybody
he represented was saved. And there's no need for anything
else to be done. It's the blood that was once
shed by his one offering that he did one time in a particular
place called Gothis Hill at a particular time, whenever it was, some 2,000
years ago, That's the only time it's gonna happen. Because he
finished whatever it was the Father gave him to do. It's the
blood once shed. Now where the remission of these
is, the writer of the Hebrews said, there's no more offering
for sin. Don't you try to bring one. The blood shedding of the
Lord Jesus Christ is the one offering that is complete. And I love thinking about this,
we read, in Revelation chapter 5 of heavenly worship, that door
opened into heaven. And I've already pointed out
from the scriptures that before time began, Christ was the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. Here is the subject
of eternity future, if I can use such a word as that. We read
that the great throng around his throne in Revelation 5, singing,
thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof
for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of
every kindred, tongue, tribe, and nation. The song of heaven
is worthy as the lamb that was slain. Oh, that's the theme of
heaven. The precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, I want to read one other
scripture to you. It's found in Romans chapter
three. I'm gonna read this. If you have a Bible, I'd like
you to turn and look at it with me. Romans chapter three, verse 24. Well, let's start reading
in verse 23. For all have sinned. That's me
and you. All have sinned. There's no difference
between the most moral man and the most immoral man on the earth
in God's sight. All have sinned. We sinned in
Adam and we sinned in ourselves. Now, somebody is saying, are
you saying there's something wrong with morality? No, I'm
not saying that. But I'm saying in God's sight, there's no difference
between the most religious man and the most vile man. All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption, the blood shedding
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set
forth to be a propitiation, a sin removing sacrifice is what that
big word means. Whom God set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood. What do I know about that? Faith
in His blood. Do you have faith in His blood? Are you relying only upon the
accomplishments of His blood? Do you believe that God is satisfied
with the blood of His Son. So satisfied, He looks for nothing
else. Are you personally relying on
God's satisfaction with the blood of His Son? Do you believe that the blood
is the blood of the Son of God? The uncreated, eternal, sovereign
of the universe? That one who is so high and so
holy that he could come into God's presence? The scripture
says he took the book. from the right hand of Him that
sat upon the throne. He didn't ask for it. He took
it as equal with the Father. That's the blood we're talking
about. The blood of the man Christ Jesus, who is God, the God-man,
equal with the Father. Do you believe His blood is eternal
blood? The Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Do you believe His blood is sinless
blood? Saving blood, satisfying blood,
sanctifying blood, redeeming blood, justifying blood, peacemaking
blood, continually cleansing blood, forgiving blood, The blood
that is final, no need for anything ever to be done again. The blood
that emboldens, the blood of heavenly worship. Do you have
faith in his blood? Now, there is no more important
question than that. Are you relying on his blood
as the only reason you can be brought into heaven? Now if you
believe, stay with me, if you believe that his blood can be
shed for somebody and they wind up in hell anyway, that means
you're not relying on his blood only. You're relying on something
you've done to make his blood work for you. Now that doesn't
work. Remember, the blood was shed
for God. For God to do something for me
or you, He had to do something for Himself. And that's what
the Lord Jesus Christ did. He made the way for God to be
just and justify the ungodly. Thank God for the blood of Christ.
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