This Blood Is For You

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