I thought that was exceptionally
good singing tonight. I appreciate all of you who join
in to worship the Lord in song and praise. Now, if you will,
let's open our Bibles to Hebrews chapter 12. While you're turning
here, let me say this. This morning, those of you who
were here, you will remember I only had you turn from 1 John
to one other book in the Bible. Tonight, it's not going to be
like that. I hope you brought your Bibles,
and I trust you'll turn. If not, that's fine too. But
we will be looking at a number of different passages of Scripture,
God willing. Now, Hebrews chapter 12, beginning
with verse 18. For you are not come unto the
mouth that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor
unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of
a trumpet, and the voice of words, which voice that heard entreated
that the word should not be spoken to them any more. For they could
not endure that which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touch
the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart.
And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceeding
fear and quake. But you are come unto Mount Zion,
and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly
in church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to
God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made
perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the
blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel. In reading and preaching from
the letter of Hebrews, it's always, I think, helpful to remind ourselves
that that this letter was originally written to those who confess
faith in Jesus Christ, but were of the nation of Israel. They
were the physical descendants of Abraham. And it appears that
they were under much pressure, hopefully to cause them to renounce
their faith in Christ and return to Judaism. Now they were people
unlike, for instance, the letter to the Galatians. We know that
those churches of Galatia were mainly made up of Gentile believers. There were Jewish believers,
of course, in those churches. But this letter, written especially
to the Hebrews, thus we see the name Hebrews. We must remember
that they were somewhat unlike Gentile believers in the sense
that they had the scriptures. In fact, the Apostle Paul, in
answering that question, what advantage then did the Jews have,
or did the Jews have, Paul said, chiefly, chiefly unto them were
committed the oracles of God, the word of God. In this letter, it appears that
there's a number of contrasts. They began immediately. In the
very first two verses, I believe it is, where Paul says that God
in the past spoke unto our fathers through the prophets or by the
prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us in the Son. What a difference, right? What
a difference! To hear a man of God, a prophet
of God, but still another man bring the message and have the
Lord Jesus Christ God in the flesh. speak to us. And you go through and you say
there's a number of contrasts between the priesthood and our
high priest. Between the old covenant and
the better covenant. Between the sacrifice, sacrifices,
and the sacrifice. A number of contrasts. And that's
what we have just read. A contrast here in these verses. The contrast here is between
the nation of Israel In the days of Moses, when they came out
of Egypt, the contrast is between them coming unto the mountain
that might be touched. They could touch that mountain.
They could walk up on that mountain. But if they didn't, they were
stoned, or a dart was to pierce through them. The best they could
do, I looked at it just a few minutes ago, but the best they
could do was to wash their clothes before they came to that mountain.
And I could not help but think, water baptism. How many people,
how many people are trusting in water baptism? About the best
it can do is wash away the filth of the outside, but man's problem
is on the inside. That's the best they could do.
God said, you tell them to sanctify themselves, to wash their clothes,
but you set bounds around the mountain, and if anyone, even
a beast, touched the mountain, it's to be killed. It's to be
stoned. Oh, this mountain, as we read
here, it was all on fire. It was darkness. There was the
sound of a loud trumpet. It was everything to cause them
to be afraid. In fact, in verse 21 we read,
and we did not know this until we came to the letter of Hebrews,
that even Moses, this man of God, that he said that he did
exceedingly fear and quake. You have not come to that mountain, but you have come to Mount Zion. And you have not only come to
Mount Zion, But you have come to Christ, the mediator of the
new covenant. Now if you look at this, when
you come to Christ, how do you come to Christ? By faith. by
faith. That's the only way that any
of us come to Christ, is by trusting Him, by believing Him. And when
we come to Christ, we come, as this scripture tells us, we come
to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
to an innumerable company of angels, to the General Assembly
and Church of the Firstborn, and to God, the Judge of all.
When you come to Christ, and notice also, to the blood of
sprinkling, the blood of sprinkling. For a Hebrew, for someone who
was of the nation of Israel and had the Old Testament and all
of the traditions and all of the history, this terminology,
the blood of sprinkling, should have brought a number of truths
to their minds. And I have three parts of the
message as we look tonight at the blood of sprinkling. When
a Hebrew read this letter, you have come to Jesus a mediator
of the new covenant and the blood of sprinkling. I would imagine
the very first thing that came into their mind when they read
about blood sprinkled was the Passover. Let's go back. Exodus chapter 12. Exodus chapter
12. We'll just read a few verses here. Verse 6 And you shall keep it, that is
the lamb, each family was to take a lamb, you shall keep it
up until the fourteenth day of the same month. And the whole
assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the
evening. Now there were thousands of lambs
slain, but it is always spoken of in a singular. You shall kill
it. Now notice this next verse, verse
7. And they shall take of the blood,
and strike it on the two side posts, and on the upper door
post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. You have come to
Jesus, a mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of
sprinkling. Surely it would have come into
their minds this history of the Passover when the blood was caught
in the basins and with hyssop it was struck or sprinkled upon
the doorpost. Look down further in that chapter
to verse 12 and 13. For I will pass through the land
of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn in the
land of Egypt, both man and beast, And against all the gods of Egypt,
I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. And the blood,
that blood, that sprinkled blood, that blood that was struck on
the doorpost of the house, and the blood shall be to you for
a token upon the houses where you are. And when I see the blood,
I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you
to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. The sprinkling
of the blood of the Passover lamb was the only thing, the
only thing that saved the firstborn from death. God passed over Egypt
that night and oh what an awful night it must have been. Have
you ever heard someone get the message that someone
had died? Someone They loved and passed
away. The crying that goes out. Can
you imagine a whole land? The whole land of Egypt that
night. God passing over it. And God
was looking for one thing and one thing only. And that was
the blood that had been sprinkled upon the doorpost. And where
God saw that blood, He passed over. But where that blood was
not applied, death entered that house. Oh, the cry, the cry,
the awful cry that must have gone up that night. So surely,
when these Hebrews read this letter, that would be the first
thing that would come to their mind. The blood of sprinkling,
that's what I've come to, the blood of sprinkling. I've come
to Christ, the Passover Lamb. The second thing, if you look
in chapter 24 of Exodus, the blood of sprinkling on the book
of the covenant. This was part of their history.
When they came out of Egypt, came to Mount Sinai, God gave
the covenant to Moses. Moses came down and gave the
covenant, read the book of the covenant to the Israelites and
of course they agreed to the covenant. Exodus chapter 24 and
verses 6-8 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 it in
the audience of the people, and they said, All that the Lord
said will we do, and be obedient. And 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. Now, keep your place there, but
I'm going to go back to Hebrews chapter 9, because Paul had already
mentioned this in the letter of Hebrews. Let me read you these
three verses. In chapter 9, verse 18, he said,
Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood,
The first covenant. Speaking of that covenant we
just read about there in Exodus chapter 24. Moses read the words
of the covenant. The people said we will obey.
Moses took the blood, sprinkled the altar, and sprinkled the
book of the covenant. And he also sprinkled the people.
But here in Hebrews 9 the Apostle said, For when Moses, make sure I've
got the right, 18, chapter 18, or chapter 9 verse 18, 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 or the
covenant which God hath enjoined upon you." So the second thing,
no doubt that would come into the mind of a Hebrew, reading
of the sprinkling of blood, first the Passover, secondly the covenant. The covenant was ratified by
the sprinkling of blood. You remember the Lord Jesus Christ
said, this is my blood of the new covenant. It was through
His death, through His blood, that the covenant, the new covenant,
the covenant of grace, the everlasting covenant was ratified. Now here's
a third thing that no doubt would come into their mind, daily sacrifices. Remember the law required every
day, oh there were many sacrifices, there were many sacrifices. I
read one time someone tried to compute how many sacrifices there
were in a year according to the law. And there were many sacrifices. But every day of the year there
was to be a lamb slain in the morning and a lamb slain in the
evening. Every day. And many times there
would be a whole lot more. For instance, on a Sabbath. Or
any of the feasts. But the blood of sprinkling of
their daily sacrifices. If you look now in Leviticus.
The book of the priest. Leviticus chapter 1. Remember
the theme of Exodus is redemption. The theme of Leviticus is the
priesthood. Leviticus chapter 1 and verse
5. And he shall kill the bullock
before the Lord, and the priest Aaron's son shall bring the blood
and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar. That is by the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation. The blood of the daily sacrifices
had to be sprinkled around about the altar. Now this here in Leviticus
we just read was when a man brought an animal of his own free will
he brought an animal to the priest to be sacrificed but the priest
would sprinkle that blood and then one other time would come
to mind and this was the most solemn day of all the most solemn
day of all in the history in the nation of Israel under the
law it was on the great day of atonement Turn to Leviticus chapter
16. On this day the priest would
sprinkle the blood before the mercy seat and on the mercy seat
two times. Leviticus chapter 16 and verse
14. And he shall take of the blood
of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy
seat eastward, and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle
of the blood with his finger seven times. Now you notice that
was the blood of a bullock. That blood was to make atonement
for the priest. He had to sprinkle that blood
on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat to make atonement
for his sins. That was a high priest. He only
went there once a year, didn't he? Went behind that veil with
that incense and not without blood. But then notice the next
verse. Then, verse 15 of chapter 16,
then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering that is for
the people. And bring his blood within the
veil, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the
bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the
mercy seat. Look down to verse 18. And he
shall go out unto the altar that is before the Lord, and make
an atonement for it. and shall take of the blood of
the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon
the horns of the altar round about, and he shall sprinkle
of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse
it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel." So
what I'm saying tonight is this, that the Hebrews who had the
scriptures, they had to have been somewhat familiar with this
term, the sprinkling of blood. You know the Apostle Peter, he
wrote to Jewish believers and he uses the same term. If you
want to look in 1st Peter, 1st epistle, Chapter 1, it says, Peter, an
apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered throughout
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification
of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. He was writing to Jewish believers. So, Jewish believers, those who
were Hebrews, would have some some knowledge, or at least should
have had some knowledge of this term, the sprinkling of the blood. But here's the second point I
want to make this evening. They, and we also, must recognize
these four truths, rather, about the sprinkling of the blood.
Four things. The first thing is this. The
blood of sprinkling. Anytime they took blood in a
basin and sprinkled it, the blood of sprinkling always meant that
a death had taken place. Always. There wasn't no bleeding
a goat like they used to bleed people, you know, when they thought
that was a good way to treat people. I believe President Washington
was bled several times trying to help him. When this blood
was sprinkled, the sprinkled blood, anytime they saw blood
sprinkled, they knew that there had been a victim, that someone
had given its life in order for that blood to be sprinkled. In other words, the blood of
sprinkling was the lifeblood, the lifeblood of the sacrifice,
the victim. There had to have been a death. The Lord Jesus Christ, he shed
his blood. Yes, he died. He shed his blood
before he died on the cross. He was circumcised according
to the law. But it wasn't by the blood of
circumcision. It was that blood which brought
about his death. The life of the flesh is in the
blood. A second thing that they had
to have known, and we as well, the blood of sprinkling was always,
always sprinkled by a priest. Always. A man didn't just go
out and get a goat and slice his throat, catch the blood and
start sprinkling it. You say, well, what about the
Passover? What about the Passover? Even the Passover, blood was
sprinkled or struck upon the doorpost by a priest. Well, you
say, well, the Law of Moses had not been given. Levi, the tribe
of Levi, had not been set apart as the priest. That's true. But at that time, before the
Law was given, the head of every household was a priest. Remember
Job? Remember Job, how he offered
those sacrifices for his children just in case they might have
sinned? He was the head of that home,
of that family. And that's the way it was at
the Passover. And once God gave the law, Only the priest could
sprinkle the blood. We read that in Leviticus chapter
1, when we saw that he shall kill it, the man who brought
the animal, it reads like to me, he would do the killing,
but the priest would do the sprinkling of the blood. The third thing that they should
know, and us likewise, is the blood of sprinkling was sprinkled
for atonement and expiation. Now the word expiation is akin
to propitiation and it is because of his expiation, that is his
work of atonement that God is propitiated. His wrath is turned
aside because of the expiation, the sacrifice that is offered. Look back with me, or maybe you're
still here, in Leviticus chapter 16 and verse 30. That blood of that goat that
was taken in there and sprinkled before the mercy seat and on
the mercy seat, notice what it says. For on that day shall the
priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you
may be clean from all your sins before the Lord. So, the blood
of sprinkling always meant the lifeblood of a victim. The blood
of sprinkling was always sprinkled by a priest, and the blood of
sprinkling was sprinkled for atonement, expiation. And here's
another thing, the blood of sprinkling could only be typical. Hebrews should have known that.
We certainly know that. The blood of sprinkling, all
this blood that we've been reading about, it could only be typical. There's no way that the blood
of an animal could expiate the sin of a man. There's no way. And the reason the blood of Jesus
Christ has the power that it has to expiate, to propitiate
God is because of who He is. He is God. If He were just another
man like you and I, His blood, even if He had been a perfect
man, could not have propitiated God for the sins of His people. No. And they should have known
that. Remember this well-known passage
in Hebrews chapter 10, verses 1 through 4. For the law, we might say this about
the whole Old Testament, 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 thereunto perfect.
For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because
that the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience
of sins. But in those sacrifices there
is a remembrance again made of sins every year. Far! It is not
possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away
sins. Here's my third point. We should
know the good things that were shadowed, that's what we just
read there, for the law having a shadow of good things to come.
We should know that the good things that were shadowed by
the sprinkling of the blood of animals but accomplished by the
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Now, I've listed seven,
and I'm sure there's other things that could be listed. But this
is what the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ accomplishes. Number one, the new or the everlasting
covenant was sealed. In chapter 13 of Hebrews, The scripture says, Now the God
of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ,
that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant. That covenant was ratified or
sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ. I'm so thankful today
that we are in that new covenant in His blood, that covenant that
we like to refer to as a covenant of grace. The second thing is
justification. The sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ brought about our justification. In Romans chapter
5, and I'll read these if you don't want to turn with me, But
I told you it turned us a number of places. Romans chapter 5 in
verse 9, much more than being now justified by his blood. By his blood. Justified by his blood. Declared
righteous in the sight of God. A third thing is redemption,
resulting in the forgiveness of our sins. We see this in Ephesians
chapter 1 and verse 7, in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of his grace. Also in Colossians 1 and verse
14, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. Here's a fourth thing that we
have because of the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
Look in Ephesians 2 and verse 13. And I know that this was written
by the Apostle Paul originally to Gentile believers. But what
he says here applies to all believers. When he says, verse 13, You who
sometimes were far off. How far off were we? We were
so far off that we could never find our way back. That's how
far off we were. You who were sometimes far off
are made nigh. How? By the blood of Jesus Christ. Made nigh. Nigh unto God. How
nigh? So nigh that we are one in His
Son. Here's another one. Peace. Colossians
1 and verse 20. We have peace with God. We live
in a world of turmoil, don't we? I mean, you can't listen
to the news or watch the news and you don't see that our world
is plunging into chaos. I don't see how you could describe
it in any other way. There is no peace to the wicked,
the scripture says. That's what God said. But thank God by the blood of
Jesus Christ. Notice here in Colossians 1 in
verse 20. And have He made peace through
the blood of His cross. By Him to reconcile all things
unto Himself. By Him. I say whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven. Reconciliation. Peace with God. Cleansing. Here's the fifth one.
Cleansing from all our sins. And I especially love this verse
here. Revelation. Chapter 1. Now verse 5, cleansing by the blood of Christ. And from Jesus Christ who is
a faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the
prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood. Oh, that's great, isn't it? Sin's gone. Washed away. They'll never be remembered again.
Not by God. He washed us in His own blood.
The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Here's the sixth thing in Hebrews
chapter 10. We're told we have boldness.
Boldness! Boldness to enter into the presence
of God. How? By the blood of Christ. Hebrews 10 and verse 19. Having
therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by
the blood of Jesus. Don't you know that old high
priest? And he changed every time one died, a new one took
his place. that they kind of dreaded that
was the tenth month I believe it was the month in which they
observed the great day of atonement and he knew when that day came
around he had to go behind that veil into the present, the manifested
presence of God at that time Where God dwelt, the Shekinah
dwelt, between the cherubim on the mercy seat. He had to go
in there. But He never went in there without
blood. We go in to the presence of God. You close your eyes and call
upon your Father and go into the presence of God. Make your
request known unto Him. We have boldness. Not irreverence,
I'm not talking about that, but boldness. We always remember
He's God and we are His servants, His creatures. And the last thing,
notice in Hebrews 9 and verse 14. The blood of Jesus Christ purges
our conscience to serve the living God. Hebrews 9 and verse 14. How much more? And the comparison
here is between the ashes of a heifer. Remember the red heifer
was burned and the ashes were caught up and when a person had
to be cleansed and that was only ceremonially true. They would
take the water and the hyssop and the cedar and these ashes
and mix them together and sprinkle them upon the person. That would
allow him to come back into the camp and have fellowship with
the Israelites. That's what Paul means. For if
the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling
the unclean sanctify 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? We ought to serve God in faith
and zeal. Our consciences are purged from
dead works. We had dead works because we
were dead. Dead in trespasses and sins,
but by the blood of Jesus Christ we've been saved. The blood of
Jesus Christ purges our conscience that we might serve Him. And
you know, believer, child of God, when you sin and you are
convicted, and your heart smites you because you know you have
sinned, The sprinkling by God the Holy Spirit of the blood
of Jesus Christ is the only thing that will bring peace to your
soul. The blood of sprinkling. Let's
sing a hymn before we are dismissed.