Text
Revelation 5:8-10
Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying: "You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth."
Introduction
There is a story of a little boy whose sister needed a blood transfusion. The doctor had explained that she had the same disease the boy had recovered from two years earlier. Her only chance for recovery was a transfusion from someone who had previously conquered the disease. Since the two children had the same rare blood type, the boy was the ideal donor.
"Would you give your blood to Mary?" the doctor asked.
Johnny hesitated. His lower lip started to tremble. Then he smiled and said, "Sure, for my sister."
Soon the two children were wheeled into the hospital room--Mary, pale and thin; Johnny, robust and healthy. Neither spoke, but when they met, Johnny grinned. As the nurse inserted the needle into his arm, Johnny’s smile faded. He watched the blood flow through the tube.
With the ordeal almost over, his voice slightly shaky, broke the silence. "Doctor, when do I die?" Only then did the doctor realize why Johnny had hesitated, why his lip had trembled when he’d agreed to donate his blood. He’d thought giving his blood to his sister meant giving up his life. In that brief moment, he’d made his great decision.
Johnny, fortunately, didn’t have to die to save his sister. Each of us however, has a condition more serious than Mary’s, and it required Jesus to give not just his blood, but his life.
Body
I. Revelation 5:8-10
A. In Heaven they worship the Lamb who is worthy because He was slain. And by being slain He redeemed us by His blood.
1. What is the significance of blood being shed?
B. This is a topic that runs throughout the whole of Scripture. You could say there is scarlet thread that runs through the entire Bible. The thread is scarlet because it has been dyed in the blood of the Lord Jesus. To come to any understanding of this we have to go back to the beginning.
II. Genesis
A. At that inception of time God set a law into existence that said, “The soul that sin shall die.”
B. Adam was told this from his creation. God told Him that should man rebel against Him. On the day he sinned, he would surely die.
C. Man’s choice was either to obey God, submit to Him and depend upon Him, or to disobey, rebel and become independent from God.
D. We know what he chose. Man rebelled and thus came under God’s death penalty.
E. A holy, perfect, sinless God can not let sin go unpunished. The soul that sins must die. It would be necessary for mankind to be eternally separated from God.
III. The Law before Time.
A. But there was another law. You could call it the law before time. The law that originated in who God was. Because God’s nature is self-giving love. The law was, that one may die for another. One innocent one may die and through the shedding of that innocent blood, the guilty party could go free.
B. Therefore, God took an animal and killed it. And from that animal He gave trembling, rebellious man and woman furs coat to cover the nakedness of their guilt and shame. In order to produce a fur coat an animal had to shed its blood.
C. The book of Hebrews tells us that “without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.” One may die for another and through the blood the guilt party can have their sin covered.
IV. God’s People – Israel
A. Sacrifices – “one must die for another”
B. The Old Testament is a sea of blood
1. Sin offerings and the Day of Atonement
C. Problem with an animal
1. Amoral beast
2. Not of enough value
3. Had no choice
D. The value of the sacrifice was not found in the animal but what the sacrifice actually stood for.
V. Jesus Christ
A. John the Baptist – “Behold the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”
B. He is a worthy sacrifice.
1. Moral – real man
2. Value – the creator is worth all of His creation and more
3. He chose (Gethsemane)
C. Like the Levitical animal sacrifices He was without blemish
1. 1 Pet 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.”
D. He became our substitute and did what He did for us and as us. He shed His own blood as us and for us.
VI. How and when did Jesus shed his blood for us?
A. Gethsemane
1. He chose to do the will of the father against the very worst of impending consequences.
2. Hemadrosis
3. His blood was shed for our mental torment, depression, and anguish
4. If depression has you defeated or mental torment haunts you – this blood is for you.
B. The Whipping Post
1. He was beaten.
2. The whip used for scourging has a short wooden handle, to the end of which is attached several leather thongs. Each thong was tipped with very sharp pieces of metal or bone. The man to be scourged was tied to a post by the wrists high over his head, with his feet dangling and his body taunt. Often there were two soldiers, one on either side of the victim, who took turns lashing him across the back. Muscles were lacerated, veins and arteries were tore open, and it was not uncommon for the kidneys, spleen, or other organs to be exposed and slashed. As would be expected, many men died of the scourging before they could be taken off for execution.
3. 1 Pet 2:24 “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness-- by whose stripes you were healed.”
4. Through His scourging Jesus purchased our ultimate healing. For those who believe in Jesus, some day every hurt, wound, and physical pain will be eternally healed when we receive resurrection bodies.
5. But even now in this life, God will provide healing for the sick and diseased.
6. If you are sick, infirmed, or diseased in your body – this blood is for you.
C. The Crown of Thorns.
1. To mock Jesus as the king of the Jews they made a crown of thorns and drove it down on His head.
2. It dug into His scalp and the blood ran down his head to mix with the remainder of the blood.
3. His blood in bearing the thorns bore the curse Adam brought on the human race.
4. One day we will see the fullness of this deliverance at the Second Advent when the curse is removed from the earth.
5. For us now the curse has been reversed and brought a blessing.
6. Gal 3:13-14 “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
7. If you feel a curse hangs over your life. It seems nothing ever goes your way, that you are nothing but a loser and a failure, but you would like to see that curse reverse. If that is you, this blood is for you.
D. The Cross
1. Jesus was then ordered to carry His own cross up the Via Delarosia. When He stumbled under the weight of His cross and could go no more, a man named Simon carried it for Him, until they arrived at Golgatha. Golgatha , which means the place of the skull, was a hill outside Jerusalem.
2. Crucifixion was a most inhuman form of capital punishment. Only non-Roman citizen could be put together by this means. The Roman cross was short, the victim was rarely hung over two feet off the ground, so that when a victim remained alive the wild dogs would come in from the desert and chew their legs off.
3. Entering the crucifixion the victim was spread out on the ground on the cross to be nailed to it. The nails were put through the hands at the juncture of the wrists, and through the feet to secure the man in that position. A hole was previously dug and the cross was raised up and dropped in the hole. When the bottom of the upright post hit the bottom of the hole, the jar would usually pull loose the shoulder joints and ligaments as the entire body sank with the force of the cross being dropped into the hole. When the bottom of the upright post hit the bottom of the hole, the jar would usually pull loose the shoulder joints and ligaments as the entire body a sank with the force of the cross hitting.
4. Immediately in this distended position, diaphramic action was lost or reduced; the victim immediately began to suffocate in this position and as shallow breathing began to occur and the victim sank lower on his hands and could not breath because of the pain of the nails through his wrists, he would attempt to push himself back up with his feet, in order to breath and not suffocate. By pushing up on the feet, the pain on the feet would be so excruciating that he again would drop down and the weight in turn would pull on the wrists and hands and cause the nail in the hands to cause unbearable pain. Hence, the victim of crucifixion began to take on this grotesque zig zag, modified Z position on the cross. The body Zed to one side and the knees pointed out in the other direction. A semi-rigamortis began to set in as death began to creep very slowly on the victim. Because of the loss of diaphramic action and the fact that the bones were pulled out of joint, the victim began to suffocate and become extremely thirsty. The throat would become dry and parched, the humiliation and agony of the cross as the victim hung naked for all to see as he was impaled helplessly. It was a pain, agony and humiliation beyond compare. Most were tied to the cross. But with Jesus nails were driven through the base of his hands and his feet
5. On the cross Jesus bore upon himself the wrath of an angry God against sin. The sun hid its face and darkness covered the earth as Jesus took to Himself all the sin and filth of a rebellious human race. The blood He shed was for me and for you.
6. He took our place and He bore our sin. He received the penalty of a righteous Holy God against sinful mankind. Now those who receive Him are pardoned of all sin, as if they never have sinned.
7. Satan has no legal right to us. He only has a legal right to those under sin.
8. His blood is now the legal pardon for all of our sins.
9. If you have sin and are under the judgment of a Holy God and in need of the forgiveness of sin, this blood is for you.
E. They then took Jesus down form the cross and laid him in a borrow tomb. His disciples were devastated…for they did not understand that Jesus had gone into death to kill death and then after three days would rise victorious over death, hell and the grave. He arose to shed His blood one final time.
F. The Heavenly Holy of Holies
1. In the Old Testament, once a year on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would take the blood of a goat and sprinkle it in the Holy of Holies on the Ark of the Covenant. That priest was never allowed to sit down, for his work was never completed. The High Priest had to repeat this every year.
2. Now Jesus enters the Heavenly Holy of Holies, of which the one on earth was only a shadow. He sprinkles His own blood on the true Ark of the Covenant. And when He does the Bible says, He sat down at the right hand of God the Father. The work is done.
3. I’m not only pardoned but because of His blood in the Holy of Holies I am accepted in the presence of God, as if I were Jesus.
4. We now have access to the presence of God. So much so that if I believe in Jesus, my body becomes His temple. His spirit actually comes to live in me.
5. To the child of God there is now no shame, guilt, or condemnation in the presence of God. His blood was my total acceptance by God.
6. If you feel outside and distant from God, this blood is for you.
Conclusion
Used a human video to the Carmen song - "This Blood is For You."
