Nothing But the Blood of Jesus
TCF Maundy Thursday Sermon
March 20, 2008
Luke 22:14-20 (NIV) 14 When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. 15 And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God." After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you. 18 For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." 19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." 20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
Tonight, in preparation for us doing what Jesus instructed on this night we just read about, doing what He did with his apostles, taking the bread which represents His body given for us, taking the cup which represents the new covenant in His blood, and remembering Him as we do it, let’s ponder some things about what He said to those gathered there.
Jesus told us to remember. Let’s think for a moment this evening, just what are we remembering? Is it the upper room? Is it what one account of that night speaks of – Jesus washing His disciples’ feet? Is it what they ate or drank?
Is it just His body and His blood? If so, what is it about these things we are to remember? And why did this new covenant with God, made through Jesus, the Son of God, the Word become flesh, why did this covenant require blood?
All these things are important to remember – but I think the primary thing we are supposed to remember is the sacrifice, and why it had to happen the way it did. That’s what I believe we’re supposed to remember tonight. Not simply the events of that Passover meal that Jesus shared with the men who were closest to Him. Not even just His body and His blood given for us.
We’re supposed to remember why it was necessary.
Why? Why did it have to happen? What did it accomplish? And how do we fit into this picture as individuals, 2,000 years later. Paul tells us in:
Ephesians 1:7 (NIV) 7 In him (that is, in Jesus) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
Let’s start this evening by reviewing the words to the hymn we just sang:
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
For my pardon, this I see,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
For my cleansing this my plea,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Nothing can for sin atone,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
Naught of good that I have done,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my hope and peace,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
This is all my righteousness,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Now by this I’ll overcome—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus,
Now by this I’ll reach my home—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Glory! Glory! This I sing—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus,
All my praise for this I bring—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
I’ve had this hymn keep coming back to me in the past few weeks as I’ve been thinking about this evening’s message. I’ve also thought about how vital to life blood is – as I sat with my dad as he had a transfusion of blood a few weeks ago.
There are some great theological truths here in this hymn that are very appropriate to ponder on this Maundy Thursday, the night we remember what Jesus asked us to remember. And I think the first thing we have to remember is that it took Jesus’ blood to wash away our sins. Nothing else would do – nothing else would work – nothing else was good enough.
As we read in Ephesians 1 a moment ago – we have redemption – we have forgiveness of sins, and in this, we experience the riches of God’s grace. But this grace came at a price – not for us, but for Jesus, and for God the Father. As the song we sometimes sing says, “We’ll never know how much it cost to see our sins upon that cross.”
The price, the cost, for washing away our sins, was the blood of Jesus. And the truth is that nothing else was adequate.
Hebrews 9:22 says that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. The term “blood of Christ” refers in the New Testament to the atoning death of Jesus. Atonement refers to the basis and process by which estranged people become at one with God (atonement-at-one-ment). We don’t have nearly enough time to explore it fully, but the language of sacrifice is seen throughout the Word of God - not just in the Old Testament where we learn of the Jewish sacrificial system, but also in the New Testament.
In the (New Testament) language of sacrifice we have “expiation” (removal of sins, Romans 3:25); “sprinkling of the blood of Jesus” (1 Pet. 1:1-2); “redeemed by precious blood as of a lamb without spot and without blemish” (1 Pet. 1:19); “blood of His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7); “blood that cleanses the conscience” (Heb. 9:14); and “blood of an eternal covenant” (Heb. 13:20). In legal language we have “justification” (Rom. 5:9); “redemption” (Eph. 1:7); Revelation tells us we have been redeemed to God by His blood (Rev. 5:9). Such metaphors show that only God could provide atonement; Jesus, the God-man was both Priest and Offering, both Redeemer and the One intimately involved with the redeemed. —Holman Bible Dictionary
These passages also show that it took Jesus’ blood to remove our sins. Since life is in the blood, the phrase “the blood of Christ” represents the life that He gave for our atonement. When we see the word blood used in the New Testament, its most important use is always in connection with Jesus’ death on the cross.
He shed His blood in a real, physical death. It’s the same kind of blood that we bleed when we’re cut or injured in some way. Why is this understanding important? Because His death demonstrates to us that the wages of sin really is death, as Paul notes in Romans 6:23. In the Old Testament, the high priest entered once each year into the Holy of Holies, to make a sacrifice for the sins of the people.
Jesus became the permanent fulfillment of that purpose. What the high priest could not accomplish, because he was only a man, and because he was a sinner himself, Jesus was able to accomplish with the shedding of His blood, because he was the sinless Son of God.
The sacrifice made by the high priest was an actual, physical sacrifice, with real blood involved, and it had a spiritual purpose. Jesus’ sacrifice, too, was an actual, physical sacrifice, with His very real blood, having a spiritual purpose and goal.
Yet, there was a big difference between the high priest’s sacrifice, versus what Jesus was able to accomplish, and that’s one of the things we celebrate even as we remember His death for us. When the high priest sacrificed an animal, God agreed to tolerate, or overlook, or pass over the consequences for sin.
As a result, these high priestly sacrifices had to be made yearly, since they were not true and lasting remedies for sin, but only reminders of it, and reminders of God’s mercy in overlooking sin.
But Jesus’ blood removed our sins, it washed away our sins, it didn’t just overlook them or cover them over, only to be held against us at some future date. Jesus’ blood satisfied the righteousness and holiness of God. Jesus’ life for our eternal life. Jesus’ blood transforms us into new creations. Jesus’ blood delivers us from slavery to sin.
1 John 1:7 describes the work that the blood of Christ, shed on the cross, does for us: It says: "And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin."
The verb cleanses here indicates continuity. There is a beginning, and there is also a continuing cleansing. That’s something worth remembering. That’s worth remembering tonight as we come to the table. All this is because Jesus Christ, once and for all, shed His blood on Calvary’s cross and fully satisfied God the Father.
So, there is that initial cleansing of the heart of the sinner, bringing about a new birth. But, when John says that Christ’s blood cleanses us, he also means that the benefit of forgiveness, which was brought about by the sacrificial death of Jesus, and was vividly symbolized by the word blood, remains effective even today. Even tonight. Even here. Even now.
If the real and physical death of Christ was not necessary, then why was it necessary for the Word, to become flesh (John 1:1, 14)?
Jesus could have died without shedding His blood, and He could merely have shed His blood without dying. However, He did both because the death of Christ includes the shedding of His blood as the visible expression, historical proof and theological qualification of it. Complete Word Study Dictionary
Pastor Mark Dever tells a story about a conversation he had. A woman in his congregation approached him and said, “I’ve just been told that I’m too Atonement-centered." He writes: (this woman) - My sister in Christ, was serious, humble, and a little confused. I said, "What do you mean ’too Atonement-centered’?" I had never heard the charge.
A Christian friend told her that she talked too much about Christ’s death, which dealt with our guilt due to sin. I responded that knowing and accepting this truth was the only way to a relationship with God, and that I didn’t think it was possible to be "too Atonement-centered." Mark Dever
Let me tell you that I absolutely agree with that statement. We cannot be too atonement centered. We cannot ponder long enough, or often enough, the significance of Jesus’ blood, and also why it was necessary. That’s one reason we have the Lord’s supper every Sunday at TCF.
I also found this quote:
“in our time, there are signs that belief in grace may be coming untethered from our classic understanding of the Cross”
Let’s never lose that connection. Let’s never disconnect the grace of God from our understanding of our need for His grace, why His grace, evidenced by the blood of Jesus that flowed from His wounds after His scourging, illustrated by the blood that flowed from His hands and His feet as He hung on the cross, why this blood was necessary.
Our need for His grace is very real. We are sinners in need of His grace. His grace was demonstrated in the shedding of the blood of Jesus. That’s why nothing but the blood of Jesus can wash away my sins, make me whole, bring me hope and peace – peace with God.
Jesus’ blood was required because we have sinned – I have sinned. The Lord’s supper is a reminder of that. But let’s be always mindful of what it’s reminding us of. It’s reminding me of Jesus sacrifice, yes. But why was this sacrifice necessary? Why was this shedding of His blood necessary?
Because that’s what it took.
The wages of sin is death. I can die, or Jesus can die in my place. It’s reminding me of my sin. It’s reminding me of my absolutely helpless state of existence, which sent Jesus to the cross in the first place.
It’s reminding me of God’s inapproachable righteousness, and holiness, His character that required such a bloody, horrible sacrifice, for my sin. It’s reminding me of those many, frankly unpleasant, realities, including the unpleasant reality about myself and my sin.
It’s also reminding me of His forgiveness of my sin. But let’s start with remembering why we needed forgiveness in the first place. We need forgiveness because, without the pardon of God, bought with the precious blood of the Word made flesh, His only Son, Jesus, we are horrible, hopelessly trapped sinners in need of a blood transfusion – His blood for our lives.
That’s what we remember tonight. When Jesus said on that night we mark tonight, “do this in remembrance of me,” I believe all these things we’ve just pondered together – and so much more, are part of that memory, part of what He asks us to remember.
Yes there is grace and mercy. But why? Because we need it. Because without it we are lost in our sins. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
As we come to the table tonight, let’s remember these things. Let’s reflect on these things. And let’s come to His table to receive the grace and forgiveness He bought with His blood, because it’s what we absolutely need from Him.
Pray
