Sermon: By His Own Blood

This morning Hebrews chapter nine and we're going to look at verses one through, I mean verses 11 through 14 this morning.

And let's go ahead and let's pray before we hear God's word. Read and preach this morning. Let's pray.

Father of our life, we thank you this morning that you are a giver of life.

We are thankful that we have before us. The words of life this morning

did you work? Whether is deadness,

whether that is in this room, whether that is in our minds, whether that is in our hearts or our souls. And we pray that you would bring forth the fruit of life in life abundant in Christ Jesus. We are so desperately in need of you. We pray this in the strong name of Christ. Amen. Hebrews chapter nine verses 11 through 14. This is a holy inherent sufficient word of God. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things

that have come than through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands that is not of this creation, he inserted once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by the means of his own blood. Thus securing an eternal redemption for if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh.

How much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? The grass withers, the power fades. The word of God is forever. Thanks. Speak to God. Amen.

We see some repetition in our Texas morning. We're gonna see that uh, over the next couple of weeks. I'll not rehash everything that we've pointed out already. Uh, in particular last week we looked at the inauguration of the new covenant in relation to the old covenant and how our conscience has been set free. And without going back through all of that this week, cuz we could do that from this text, what I want to do this morning is just look at this passage under four points

this morning. The first is the means. He uses that term twice the means. The second is the outcome, the third is the argument and the fourth is the purpose. So first the means then the outcome, then the argument, and then the purpose This morning, first the means. The writer begins with saying again that Jesus has gone, as he says, quote into the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands. He then echoes that in verse 12 where he says he entered once for all into

the holy places. As we've said in previous weeks, what he is referencing is heaven. That place not made with human hands, that place that is above Jesus has entered there and he's entered there by means. Writer takes a very familiar approach here, what we will call from the lesser to the greater. He gives us the lesser first. He entered once for all, not by means of the blood of goats and calves. Verse 12. And then he goes on in verse 13 to speak of goats and bulls.

This is the lesser, the lesser blood, the lesser sacrifice. He's using shorthand for all of the Old Testament sacrificial system here, the lesser. And before we go too far here we, we gotta wrestle with this question. What, why? Why so much? Talk about blood. Why? Why is he focused on blood? Blood of bulls, blood of goats, blood of calves? Why? Why the focus on blood? Well blood represents life. Leviticus 17 verse 11,

we read for the life of the fleshes in the blood so spilled blood shed blood speaks of the fact that there has been death. And as the scriptures say, the wages of sin is death, that's the penalty for sin death. So there must be shed blood. So he's recalling here the entire Levitical system for covering over sin. You've sinned that sin has to be covered over and so there has to be shed blood. And he goes on to point out in verse 13 that the sprinkling of defiled persons

with the ashes of a heifer. And what's he's doing is he's referencing those who were unclean by touching something that was dead. They became ceremonial unclean and so they could not go into the worship of God. And so according to numbers 19, what they would have to do is they would've to take a red heifer, they would have to slaughter it, there would've to be spillt blood and then they would burn that heifer and they would take the ashes from that burnt heifer and they would store them

so that when someone touched something that was dead, they would then take those ashes, they would mix them with spring clean water and then they would sprinkle that upon the person and then they would be clean. This is the way that sin and uncleanness was dealt with in the old government covenant. The sacrifices, the sacrifices did as he says in verse 13, quote, sanctify the person that is, it made them outwardly clean.

They were sanctified. But as we saw in previous weeks, it did not cleanse within, it didn't cleanse the heart.

These were temporary cleansings. The animals sacrificed, temporarily fulfilled the need for the judgment of death, but they did not fulfill it. That's the lesser, lesser sacrificed, lesser blood, lesser benefit. So the rider then moves from the lesser to the greater the blood of animals sanctified. It's sanctified if that's true, if the blood of goats and the blood of bows and the blood of calves sanctified and here's his golden question,

how much more the blood of Christ Jesus if the blood of goat sanctifies, how much more does the blood of Christ accomplish?

Notice the means. Jesus, the high priest entered the holy places not by the blood of goats or calves or bulls, but verse 12, by his own blood, how much more does this bloodshed for sinners accomplish? You want to know the answer to that question. You want to know it because you're a sinner And that's the question he's asking.

He tells us how much more it leads to our second point, the outcome. Verse 12, Christ's blood, unlike the goats and the bulls and the calves, Christ's blood secures an eternal redemption. Now we gotta wrap our minds around this. Where there is redemption, there is bondage. That is that there is slavery. Now what's often lost on us, what's no doubt lost on most people that are walking around this world and what is lost on some that are sitting in this room is that you don't believe

you're in bondage, that you've ever been in bondage. You say, I'm no slave, I got no shackles on me. No man is my master.

Well you have no master that you can see, but you have a master. All of us born this world as children of Adam are born into slavery. Every single one of us we're born as slaves to sin. Sin dominates us, it holds us, it grips us, it motivates us, it drives us, it shapes us. You, you're in bondage and so there is the need to be set free to be redeemed. But that cause

Jesus said I came not to be served but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many. There's a cause he buys us. That's a language of scripture. He buys us.

Paul says in Acts 20 there and that one of my favorite scenes and all the scriptures where he's meeting with those elders from Ephesus and he's saying goodbye to them and he's giving them charge of of the congregation there in Ephesus. And he will say to them as he charges them there, he says, watch over the church of God whom God purchased with his own blood who were purchased. You had the need to be purchased. Jesus redeems us by paying the price for our redemption with

his own blood. That's the cost.

But we all at different times, we go through life and we think, ah, wonder what I'm worth? How much am I worth? And it usually happens one of two lines. There's someone has insulted us or someone has betrayed us or someone has abused us or someone has disregarded us and we, we feel like we're just on the outskirts and no one really cares for us. No one really loves us. No one. And that thought goes through your mind. I just,

I don't feel like I'm worth much.

Or it's the opposite. You've done it. You've hated on somebody, you've lied about someone. Maybe you've even abused someone and that guilty conscience pricks,

you think I'm, I'm not worth anything,

not worth it.

Some get to the point of despair where they'll take their own lives cuz they think they're worth nothing.

It doesn't matter how others treat you or how much you condemn yourself. God says to the person of Son, oh you are worth the very blood of my son.

But he says to the sin, that's what he says to those created in his image worth the very blood of my son

and his blood shed accomplishes the purpose for which it was shed or redemption. That's the outcome. No matter how deep your pain, no matter how great the grip of sin, no matter how long your sin, no matter how deep your sin, his blood accomplishes redemption. And not just for a moment but everlastingly, the writer of Hebrews,

the old covenant and its temporary lesser way is gone. The new covenant and its greater way has been inaugurated in Christ. What does he say when he is at the Lord's table? He says, this cup is the new covenant of my blood poured out for you for the remission of sins. It's been inaugurated

now why? Why is the outcome so drastically different, so much greater when his blood is shed versus the blood of goats or bows? Why is the blood of one man greater than all of those sacrifices that have come before? Well he gives us the argument in verse 14 or third point, the argument he says in verse 14, this blood of Christ through the eternal spirit was offered by Jesus himself without blemish to God. The argument he is making is that this sacrifice was the most costly

and it was the most perfect sacrifice. It's the most costly and it's the most perfect. Now follow me here in theology we will talk about the passive obedience of Christ and the act of obedience of Christ. Both are absolutely essential. You need both his passive obedience and you need his active obedience. His passive obedience is all that he suffered on our account. You and I often think of as our minds run to the cross, rightfully so,

but he suffered in the moment of his incarnation and his entire life. Every single breath that he took in this life was a life lived every moment suffering. For your sake and my sake does Isaiah say about him, he prophesizes says that he was smitten and afflicted a man of sorrows. We despised him and esteemed him not this is his life and then it reaches the climax. That moment when he has hung out upon that tree and he has

sacrificed for sinners and the wrath of the father is poured out upon him as he hangs upon that tree. That is his passive obedience

and it is costly.

He who John tells us was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made in him was life and the life was the light of men. And yet the life of men is subjected to death, even death on a cross.

Your redemption is costly.

Listen to the writer of Hebrew's emphasis upon the cost of this redemption. Throughout this book it's trying to make a point to you and I it's a constant refrain. Chapter two verse 10. He says, for it was fitting that he for whom and by whom all things exist. God in bringing many sons to glory should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering two 18 for because he himself has suffered when tempted he is able to help those who

are being tempted. Chapter five, verses seven through eight. In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. Hebrews 12, two through three looked to Jesus the founder and perfector of faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, consider him who endured for sinners such hostility against

himself. And then 13, 12 therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. His sacrifice was costly. This is his passive obedience,

but his sacrifice was also perfect. This is what theologians call his active obedience. He was a perfect sacrifice. We not only needed payment for sin, you and I needed a perfect payment for sin.

One who was righteous but Adam did not fulfill in the garden. The second Adam Christ fulfills force. He perfectly obeyed the law of God. He never gave into temptation. There was never a spot, there was never a wrinkle, there was never a stain. There was never a a misapplied motivation. As the writer of Hebrews told us in chapter four verse 15, Jesus was like us in every respect yet without sin. As Peter will say in first Peter one,

we weren't purchased by mirror perishable things like gold and silver. You and I were purchased with the precious blood of Christ like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. And the writer of Hebrews picks up the exact same word. Here he is without blemish, it's perfect, a perfect sacrifice, no trace of sin. And that is an offering that is wholly acceptable to God.

And notice that he says that Jesus offered himself this is a voluntary sacrifice. This is not divine child abuse as some have argued. No, he voluntarily offers himself to the Father to secure our eternal redemption because he knew it was the only way cost was great and the sacrifice had to be perfect and he knew and the father knew that only he could do it. In fact, that's the argument the writer of Hebrews is making to you and I here

he says verse 14, that through the eternal spirit he was offered up through the eternal spirit, he was offered up. Now some will understand that you listen to different preachers, read different commentators that will say, well what's he speaking of here Is he speaking about the Holy Spirit? It was through the Holy Spirit that Christ offered himself up before the Father. Now that's true. He offered himself up by the spirit.

All that Jesus did in the flesh he did by the power of the spirit. You remember when he goes out uh, John to be baptized and as he's baptized in the water that John and the gospel of John, John will tell us that that spirit, the Holy Spirit came down in the form of a dove and it as it came down, it rested upon Jesus. And then immediately we see in the gospels that when the spirit rests upon Jesus, then that inaugurates his public ministry and he goes out and he begins to

do his ministry for the first time. He is always doing everything that he does in his earthly ministry by the power of the Spirit. So is it true that the Holy Spirit, it was by the Holy Spirit that he lifted himself up? Yes, that's true, but I don't think that's what the writer of Hebrews is arguing here. I want you to follow the argument. The writer is contrasting the ministry of the Levitical high priest with that of Jesus. They offered

temporary purification by temporal blood as finite priests. Whereas Jesus offers verse 12, eternal redemption by eternal blood as an everlasting high priest. The eternal spirit here is a reference to his very own spirit. That is that Jesus is divine, is the God man as the God man as very God of very God. He offers himself up before the Father that even as he is sacrificed as man so as God, he is offering it up

as bloodshed and offered is costly. Ah, but it's also perfect

without blemish because it's the blood of the godman.

Or if we could go back to that Acts 20 passage and say something that I would dare never to say except that Paul says it,

it's a perfect sacrifice because it's the very blood of God.

His sacrifice is like nothing before what no animal could accomplish. What no mere men could do it is to use Paul's language, the blood of God. I want you to hear the argument if the blood of bulls and the blood of goats and the blood of calves sanctified how much more the blood of the God man should for you.

That's the argument. That's the question.

It absolutely pains me to live in my own head. I get to live in some of your heads

to hear us doubt whether ah,

that sacrifice was sufficient for my sin.

You don't say that but you, you're way down by the guilt of your sin and you want to keep carrying it around for a period of time because you know what? It was a pretty bad sin and I can't believe I did that. And so I want to carry this around a little more as if somehow his death, his bloodshed was not sufficient.

Some of you want to get your act together a little more. Say, ah, I'll freely worship Christ when I got my life a little more put together. I feel like such a hypocrite. It's going through the motions now. And so let me get my life a little more in order and then I'll freely express my worship to God. Then I'll freely serve him as if his death is insufficient,

as if that bloodshed by the godman, the very blood of God as Paul says is not sufficient.

So silly

lot of bulls and goats sanctify us how much more the blood of the godman.

But here's what's fascinating. He doesn't in there finally he gives us the purpose. In verse 14 he says, the sacrifice purifies our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Now last week we looked at the conscience. If you weren't here, I'll point you back to that sermon you think through the conscience and think through it there. But what I want you to see here, let's just say this briefly. If you weren't here last week,

let's just very clear, if you were in Christ Jesus, there is therefore now no condemnation, none. Your conscience should be clear. But what he's speaking about here you'll notice is that he says that our con are cleared from dead works. What are these dead works? What makes something a dead work? What's he referencing? He's talking about those works that you and I thought were pleasing to God, that we offered to him before we came to know Christ Jesus.

He says, those are dead. There was no life in them. They were worth nothing. They're dead.

And I was in seminary. I remember sitting in a class one day and professor was doing a lecture and he did a lecture on the fact that he said, none of you before Christ were good.

I remember that shaking me. I'd only been a Christian for a couple of years. And I heard that and I thought, well, I don't think I was very bad either. Uh, I wasn't a murderer. I wasn't a thief. I was actually, I think pretty good. I uh, was a big brother in the Big Brother program. I would volunteer weekly to serve at a homeless shelter. I used to clean regularly this women and children abuse home. I would do the crop walk each year to raise money for the hunger.

I would do a bikeathon many years to raise money for those with diabetes. I was voted everyone's best friend in high school. I was an eagle scout for goodness sakes, pretty good. I was a Hebrew of Hebrews, the Pharisee Paul lists all those in Philippians three. All of those things that he thought were good righteous deeds to put before God before he came to know Christ. And he gets to the end of it and he says they're all rubbish

of the tribe of Benjamin and a Pharisee. He says, as according to the law, I was perfect. I was a boy scout, rubbish

dead.

Remember him talking about in that class he was talking about a famous 20th century philanthropist? And he said about that philanthropist, he said, who didn't know Christ? He said that philanthropist had a truckload of common grace but not an ounce of saving grace.

And so all that he did, it wasn't actually good. It was a civic good, but it was not a God glorifying good. It was not a lasting good. It was not an eternal good. Listen, I want my neighbor to have a truckload of common grace rather than a teaspoon of common grace. They make for better neighbors. But they're not good.

It's not a everlasting good. It's not a good that is aimed at the glory of God and worshiping him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. The Bible mixes clear over and over Isaiah's 64, we have all become like one who is unclean and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment, filthy rags. All our works, our works are but filthy rags. The apostle will say, no one does good. No, not even one. Jesus will say,

why do you call me good? No one is good except the Father in heaven. But Here's the key. But once you are united to Christ, once you are declared righteous before the throne of Christ, it all changes.

You can now do good

or We're our works become pleasing to the Father in Christ.

What a A freeing and purposeful end.

Our conscience is purified from dead works. The writer says so that we are able to serve the living God. You were redeemed by the blood of the lamb. You were set free to Serve. That's the purpose.

Rick Phillips hopefully said this. He said, the purpose is not simply our own benefit. It's not merely that we should escape a deserve judgment, much less that we should have a nice, quiet, affluent Christian existence. The purpose is that the living God might have a fitting priesthood for the service and praise of his glorious name. This cleansing in Christ's blood is not the end, but only the beginning for the Christian.

John Calvin wonderfully said this. He said, we are not cleansed by Christ so that we can immerse ourselves continually in fresh dirt, but in order that our purity may serve the glory of God. You are freed to Serve, sir, Been set free To serve.

We're able now to do perfect works because we are somehow perfect beans. Oh I'm example A, you're declared to be perfect before the throne of God. You're declared to be righteous, but we are all works in progress that are in Christ Jesus.

It's not that your works are made acceptable because you do them perfectly. Your works are still stained and yet they're pleasing to God. Why? Because you've been made new and God looks at them through the sun and the sun by his blood perfects your offerings before the Father.

The West mis confession says it this way. Believers being accepted through Christ, their good works are also accepted in him. Not as though they were in this life wholly unblameable and unprovable in God's sight, but that he looking upon them in his son is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincere, although accompanied by many weaknesses and imperfections. Do you feel like your work for Christ is flagging and failing and feeble and

frail? Well, welcome to being a Christian

by the blood of Christ there made wholly and acceptable and pleasing to the Father. He delights in them.

Why? Because the Father accepts you in his son. And so he accepts your stained good works by and through the blood of his son. He sees you through his son.

Remember hearing HB Charles the Baptist preacher, give an illustration one time in a sermon where he said that there was a neighborhood boy that would just come running into his house and then would go to the pantry and grab whatever food he wanted and then he would run out of the house that there was a, there was a day that there was a congregant sitting in his living room with him and they were talking and all of a sudden the door came swinging open and this

neighborhood boy came running into the house, ran right over to the pantry, grabbed some food and ran right back out the door. And the congregant turned to HB and said, is that all right? Are you allowed to do that?

And HB said, of course,

that's my son's friend.

You're the son's friend.

He sees you through the sun. I, if I could adapt his illustration a little bit, it's not just that you're the son's friend, he makes you his sons,

he sees you as his sons. And though small and weak and frail are the offerings that we offer before him as sons, he sees them as offerings from his sons

and they delight him.

We had a, a dessert three weeks ago for, uh, new members of urc. We do this with each class and a pastor's dessert. And so Pastor Kevin and I meet with him and, uh, at the pastor's dessert, always open it up for them just to ask me any question they wanna ask. And so one of our new members asked me, they said, what is it that you most love about ministry at U c? I said, well, I have a real answer and then I have a somewhat of a goofy answer.

Uh, let me give you the goofy answer first.

I love at the end of the services when I go out there in the foyer and some covenant child comes running up, they grab one of those doodle pads that's there in the pew and, and they come up with that big smile on their face and they say, pastor, hand me that picture that they've drawn in the service. Any of you adults do that. I'm not taking it. But when they come and I always look at it, you know, usually there's a bold figure in there somewhere.

And so I know they're trying to do me and, but it delights me. Now spoil this for some of you parents out there, I've yet to have one of these covenant children run up on a Sunday morning and I look at the picture and think, ah, you have an early retirement plan. They have artistic abilities. Not one, none of them are gonna have artworks in the new Metropolitan Art Museum. That's not happening from what I've seen. But I don't tell 'em that

I love it. In fact, the rudimentary drawings that they make just because they're rudimentary, it delights me all the more. Cuz what are they doing with their, their child fingers and with their childlike mind? And with that childlike delight, they're, they're running up and they're just giving me this picture that they've worked on and they've worked hard on and that they just want to give it to me. And there's just sheer delight

and I like to think it's just sheer love. And what they're looking for is to see my delight in it and maybe even to hear well done.

Father loves your stick drawing art of good works that you offer to him. You can't color in the line. He loves your works that you offer to him because you are his child. If you're in Christ,

do you keep on with your feeble and frail and weak? Good works to his glory, delights in it.

If you're in Christ, that's the key. If you are in Christ, pray

our Father to delight in you this morning.

You have such God of incredible grace and mercy that you would send your son to redeem sinner such as us by his blood.

Forgive us for how little we think upon this blood, a little we value it. And oh, would you continue to work in us and work through us that we might offer our good works before you are Father with delight. Thank you for looking upon us with your smile even this morning in Christ. It's in His name we pray. Amen.