THE SHEPHERD’S BLOOD
Hebrews 9:9-28
Big Idea: A communion meditation on the all-sufficient work of Christ.
Hebrews 9:9-28
9 This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. 10 They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings —external regulations applying until the time of the new order.
11 When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance —now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
16 In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, 17 because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. 18 This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. 19 When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. 20 He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” 21 In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. 22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
23 It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
INTRO
THE SHEPHERD’S BLOOD
In 1972, a shepherd had brought his sheep into a walled-off, enclosed area for the night, and he had just gone to sleep when he heard a commotion. He quickly rushed over to where the sound was coming from and to his horror he discovered that a wolf was in the process of dragging off one of his sheep through a hole in the wall. He was mauling this sheep and blood was flying.
The shepherd quickly began hitting the wolf, and the wolf turned on him and began attacking him. He bit him over and over while the shepherd was striking him with his staff, and finally with one final blow of his staff, he killed the wolf as he himself collapsed into a bloody heap.
He managed to crawl over to the half-dead sheep and began to bandage its wounds. He gave it some water, and then took it in his own bloody arms, and shepherd and sheep went to sleep together. The next morning the shepherd was found dead, his body literally draped over the sheep to comfort it and keep it warm. The following day the headline in the Jerusalem paper said, “Sheep Alive, Covered in Shepherd’s Blood.” (From a sermon by Jason Jones, More Than Fringe Benefits, 4/18/2011)
What a graphic example of the work and cost that Jesus Christ paid to secure our salvation.
On the night that he was betrayed, Jesus took a cup of wine, passed it to his disciples and said: “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Mt 26:27-28).
With those words and that symbolic action, Jesus borrowed the phrase used by Moses when he took the blood of an animal, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words” (Ex 24:8).
The contrast was deliberate.
• Moses used the blood of an animal
- Jesus used His own blood.
• Moses sprinkled blood to pacify a relationship between God and the people.
- Jesus promised the actual remission of sins so God could live within his people forever.
• Moses spoke of the covenant of the law;
- Jesus fulfilled that covenant completely and replaced it with a new covenant of grace.
In this passage we discover that the Blood of Jesus:
I. COMPLETES OUR REDEMPTION (9:11-12)
How many people do you know who have tried to secure their own salvation?
How do people try and do this?
More personally, how many of you are, even now, trying to secure your own salvation?
We somehow think we must be part of the equation but, when we do, we insert failure into it. There is not a thing we can do to gain salvation. All we can do is mess up the process.
In 1962 the 18.5 million dollar Mariner 1 rocket with a space probe headed for Venus diverted from its intended flight path shortly after launch. Mission Control had to destroy the rocket 293 seconds after liftoff.
Do you know why? A programmer incorrectly transcribed a handwritten formula into computer code, missing a single superscript bar. Without the smoothing function indicated by the bar, the software treated normal variations of velocity as if they were serious, causing faulty corrections that sent the rocket off course.
When you and I insert ourselves into the “salvation equation” we guarantee destruction. No matter how small or insignificant we think our effort is it proves over and over to be bring our ruin.
John Wesley worked hard to try to procure his own salvation. He even became a missionary. Once at sea, he was in a terrible storm. He feared for his life. Then he saw a group of Moravian Christians. They were singing in the middle of that storm. Their peace gripped him. He said, "I went to America to convert the Indians, oh but who shall convert me."
Latter, in a little chapel, he trusted Jesus Christ alone for his salvation and “felt his heart strangely warmed.” He discovered that eternal redemption is only found through Christ’s blood, and his heart was purified from dead works.
Jesus paid it all and Jesus alone saves.
Often I have heard people say things like: "I am trying to be a Christian....." Well, it will not work. Stop trying and place your trust in Jesus Christ. He paid, in full, the price of your salvation with his own blood.
Blood of Jesus:
I. COMPLETES OUR REDEMPTION (9:11-12)
II. CLEANS OUR CONSCIENCE (9:13-14)
Every human life is contaminated by sin. I doubt anyone here would deny that. We try and try to remove the contamination but the harder we try the more pervasive we discover that it is.
As a means of coping with the contamination we begin blaming others; our parents, our culture, etc. This is called scape-goating. We want to put the blame on someone else but, deep down inside (in our conscience) we know where the contamination lies and we know who bears the guilt.
Guess what – the living and loving God turned the tables!
The Hebrew readers of this book would see a clear reference to the scapegoat in the writer’s ink. Under the old covenant the priest would sprinkle blood on a goat and then set it free. This was symbolic of the goat taking the blame (and curse) for the sins of the people.
Jesus became the scapegoat – but it was not a symbolic act. He actually took your sin! God literally “made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him!” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
The result is that we can have a clean and clear conscience! Not because we finally got to the bottom of the contamination and removed it. Not because we earned enough favor to override its consequences, not because we finally found the right person to blame, but because God took the sin away by His sacrifice on the cross!!
He removed the stain and guilt and cleans the conscience!
When I was a youth my parents made me go to church and made me go to the revival meetings in the small Baptist congregation that we attended. I am now glad they made me go because otherwise I may have never have darkened the door or been converted.
After coming to Christ in a revival meeting I began to grow spiritually and sense a calling to ministry. But I simultaneously had a nagging / haunting sense of guilt within. I could not get passed my past. This was agonizing for me for a looooong period of time. I sought God and immersed myself in Scripture and, in the same book that brought me so much fear (this book, Hebrews), I began to find solace. I discovered that only God could secure my salvation and that the work of Jesus was more than … MORE THAN … adequate to save me.
I began to see just how full and complete the work of Christ was. I began to understand that His blood really did wash away my sins (not just “cover” them in the sense that I was thinking – I thought they were covered {hidden from sight} but no gone). I found that the shedding of Jesus’ Blood meant my sins were remembered no more (8:12) and that the shedding of His blood brought “remission” of sin {pardon, forgiveness} (9:22) – it did not just pacify or placate God’s wrath. It took my sins away (9:28)!
In fact, my thinking of how God dealt with my sin was more in line with what the Old Covenant’s sacrificial system did than what the work of Jesus does.
This discovery, the all-sufficient work of Christ, changed my life forever and set my conscience free!
Hear me. Hebrews teaches emphatically and explicitly that the difference between religion and Gospel is our relationship to sin. The blood of Jesus takes away sin and cleans the conscience – the nagging awareness of sin is gone. The very fact that sacrifices are offered again and again (according to Hebrews) shows that it cannot remove sin. Hebrews 10:1-4 says “The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
However 10:10 says, “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
Listen – if your religion drones on about your sin and repeatedly inflicts guilt and tells you that you are still failing and might make heaven only by the hair of your chinny chin chin then you need to introduce your religion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His blood solved your sin issue – period! You are free from the penalty and the power of sin. If you still struggle with a troubled conscience I know a living and loving God that can and will forgive your sin and set you free!
Get rid of your religion that focuses on sin and come to Jesus Christ and be set free!
Blood of Jesus:
I. COMPLETES OUR REDEMPTION (9:11-12)
II. CLEANS OUR CONSCIENCE (9:13-14)
III. CULTIVATES RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD (9:15)
I will talk of this more in a later sermon but let me spend a few moments explaining this “new covenant” to you. The Greek has two different words that we translate “covenant.” One of them is a “two way” or “bi-lateral” agreement where one party says I will do “x” and the other party says they will do “y” and as long as both parties keep their part of the agreement the covenant stands. This is how business contracts and marriages were understood. This is also how the “old covenant” in Exodus was constructed. Hebrews 9:19-20 refers to this: 9 When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. 20 He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.”
The whole story is told in Exodus 24:3-8.
3 When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.” 4 Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said.
He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.”
8 Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
That is a “bi-lateral” agreement.
There is another word for covenant that is used in this chapter and it is an agreement or arrangement that is initiated and maintained by one party not two. It is best understood as a will rather than a marriage agreement. In fact, verse 16 uses a will as an example. In this understanding of covenant one party takes responsibility for caring for and maintaining the relationship. Hear me, this is the word that is used predominantly in this book and exclusively when referring to the new covenant! If you read chapters 7-10 and you look at the New Covenant you will see that God takes sole responsibility for the new relationship between you and Him.
Why? Because we have already proven we can’t maintain the relationship! We could not keep the law! Not any of it – so why would God establish a new relationship with us and expect us to once again try and do what we could not do before. God chose instead to establish us as His people not based upon my accomplishments or successful obedience but, rather, based upon the work of Jesus. That alone is what makes us His children, His friends, His people. In chapter 8 the writer quotes Jeremiah 31 (verbatim) where God predicted there would be this new covenant. Read that sometime. Look at how many times God says “I will” and how it never lays onus on us to maintain the relationship.
Here’s my point … the work of Jesus on the cross, the spilling of His blood is sufficient (Hebrews uses the words “superior” and “better than”) to restore you to relationship with God and make you His friend. God alone takes responsibility to re-create you, give you a new heart and empower you to live as one of His Children. God’s Spirit, not your will power or determination, is the solution to your relationship problems.
The success or failure of the new covenant – your relationship with God can be summed up in one word --- JESUS!
WRAP-UP
The Bible says (John 1:14), “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
The work of Jesus:
I. COMPLETES OUR REDEMPTION (9:11-12)
II. CLEANS OUR CONSCIENCE (9:13-14)
III. CULTIVATES RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD (9:15)
This is the backdrop and the blessing that Christ had in store when he gives His people “The Lord’s Supper.”
On the night that he was betrayed, Jesus took a cup of wine, passed it to his disciples and said: “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Mt 26:27-28).
COMMUNION
(Matthew 26:26-28)
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”
Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
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This sermon is provided by Dr. Kenneth Pell
Potsdam Church of the Nazarene
Potsdam, New York
www.potsdam-naz.org
