The Power of the Blood
Hebrews 9:11-22
Introduction: The preaching of the blood of Jesus Christ is hated by the world. Liberal theologians reject the idea of Christ’s blood paying for our sins. They accuse those who preach the blood of Christ as proclaiming a “slaughterhouse religion.” They deride any Christian who believes in a God who would demand payment for our sins. To them the preaching of the Blood of Christ is pagan. “The playwright, George Bernard Shaw, bitterly attacked the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, saying, ‘It is saturated with the ancient—and to me quite infernal—superstition of atonement by blood sacrifice, which I believe Christianity must completely get rid of, if it is to survive among thoughtful people’” [Our Daily Bread, 8/79] Wayne Cox of Providence Baptist ministries said, “Fifty years ago professing Christians were quite different than they are today. Fifty years ago if a man preached a sermon without exalting the blood of Jesus, without mentioning the blood of Christ in the message, people said he wasn’t preaching. But today it is revised; it has changed altogether. Today if a man preaches on the blood of Jesus, he is preaching that which is offensive.” Regardless of what the popular people pleasing preaching proclaimed in pulpits profess the Scriptures make it abundantly clear that it is the precious blood of Jesus Christ, the blood of the Lamb of God, that saves, sanitizes, sanctifies, and secures those to whom it is applied.
I. The Blood of Jesus Christ Saves
A. Hebrews 9:12 “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”
B. 1 Peter 1:18-19 “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
C. In the New Testament there are 290 references to the love of God, 290 times when God had declared His love for man. But in the same chapters and the same verses there are more than 1,300 references to the atonement, 1300 assurances that salvation can be had through the blood of Christ.
D. Good works, prayers, weeping bitter tears, cannot save you. It is the blood of Jesus Christ, His blood alone that has power to redeem. The so-called sacraments cannot save you. Neither baptism, confirmation, communion, church membership, philanthropy, morality, nor extreme unction has the slightest milligram of saving-power. There is nothing in heaven or earth, nothing in all of eternity but the Blood of Jesus that can save.
E. Ephesians 1:7 “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”
F. The blood of Jesus not only saves the repentant but also condemns the defiant, for ’...without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.’
II. The Blood of Jesus Christ Sanitizes
A. Hebrews 9:22 “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.”
B. 1 John 1:7 “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
C. Dr. Paul Brand in God’s Forever Feast wrote, “I used to think it strange that the Bible keeps talking about the cleansing power of the blood (1 Peter 1:2). It seemed to me that blood was messy stuff. I needed to wash my white lab coats if they became stained with blood. Today, I love the analogy; it is so true of the body. The blood is constantly cleansing every cell, and washing away all the debris that accumulates all the time. I like the phrase in Hebrews 9:14 (KJV): "How much more shall the blood of Christ purge your conscience from dead works?" (Discovery House, 1998).
D. At a great parliament of religions, held in Chicago many years ago, practically every known religion was represented. During one session, Dr. Joseph Cook, of Boston, suddenly rose and said: “Gentlemen, I beg to introduce to you a woman with a great sorrow. Bloodstains are on her hands, and nothing she has tried will remove them. The blood is that of murder. She has been driven to desperation in her distress. Is there anything in your religion that will remove her sin and give her peace?” A hush fell upon the gathering. Not one of the company replied. Raising his eyes heavenwards, Dr. Cook then cried out, “John, can you tell this woman how to get rid of her awful sin?” The great preacher waited, as if listening for a reply. Suddenly he cried, “Listen. John speaks: ’The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sins’ (I John 1:7).” Not a soul broke the silence: the representatives of Eastern religions and Western cults sat dumb. In the face of human need, the Gospel of Jesus Christ alone could meet the need. The sin of the race demanded the blood of Calvary. —Frederick A. Tatford
E. Revelation 7:14 “And I said to him, "Sir, you know." So he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
F. Isaiah 1:18 “" Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.”
G. “There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins; And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains:”
III. The Blood of Jesus Christ Sanctifies
A. Hebrews 13:12 “Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.”
B. In the Old Testament, the Hebrews took the bodies of the sin offerings outside the camp. They wanted the offerings to be as far away as possible from them. The Judaistic system didn’t want Jesus either. Both the Old Testament picture (the sin offering) and its fulfillment (Christ) were rejected. The people wanted no part of either one. Jesus was despised, betrayed, arrested, mocked, beaten, and crucified like a common criminal. He suffered outside the gate of Jerusalem as He hung on the cross. As the only acceptable sin offering, Christ suffered and died outside the camp that he might sanctify or set us apart as the peculiar possession of God bought by His own blood. Verse 13 says that we are to go out to Him and bear His reproach. We have been called out by His blood to be identified with Him - adapted
C. Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
D. As Christians we are in a blood covenant relationship with God. It is time as believers we realize what this means. A blood covenant is the ultimate binding agreements between two individuals. Being in blood covenant with someone means “All that I have is yours, and all that you have is mine.” Being in that covenant that we are no longer our own and cannot do whatever we choose. We must live sanctified lives.
E. Hebrews 10:29 “Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace.”
F. Revelation 1:4-6 “John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
IV. The Blood of Jesus Christ Secures
A. Romans 5:9 “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”
B. Revelation 12:11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”
C. This is the last reference in the Bible to the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ; here it is the overcoming blood, enabling believers to withstand the deceptions and accusations of Satan. There are at least 43 references to the blood of Christ in the New Testament, all testifying to its great importance not only in the salvation but also in the daily life of the believer.
D. Exodus 12:13 "When I see the blood, I will pass over you..."
E. God’s people are always safe. But God’s people are only safe through the blood; because He sees the blood-mark on their brow. They are bought with the precious Blood of Christ. Nothing can hurt them, because "the blood" is upon them. – Spurgeon
F. Someone has said that the true saints of God live under the umbrella of divine Blood and are sheltered from every storm for all eternity.
Conclusion: Everyone must decide what we will do with the precious blood of Christ. His blood is either in your heart and on your life or on your hands and under your feet.
