Easter Sermon (1)

The Blood Covered Mercy Seat!

1 John 2:1-2 My little children, I am writing these things to you SO THAT you may not sin!

But if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous One!

And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world!

Today is the day many religious people celebrate in one way or the other something called Palm Sunday!

Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter when the Religious crowds in Jerusalem took branches of Palm trees and cried out . . .

. . . Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord (John 12:13)!

As Jesus was riding into Jerusalem riding on a donkey, He was fulfilling yet another specific prophecy (Zechariah 9:9)!

The word of God has 2,048 predictable prophecies recorded. The odds of 11 of those prophecies being fulfilled is 33,554,532 to 1

The odds of 30 coming true is 1, 073,741,021 to 1. Isaiah records 55 prophecies and the odds of these 55 coming true are: 26,028,797,018,963,968 to 1

If you take the 332 prophecies of the Major Prophets, the odds of those coming true are: 8,749,002,899,132,046,697,490,008,470,485,461,412,622,723,572,849,745,703,082,425,639,811,996,797,503,692,894,052,708,092,215,296 to 1

Of the 2,048 specific prophecies, over 2,000 have already come to pass! The odds of that requires over 600 digits!

Today, I want to focus our attention on an Old Testament passage of Scripture with a New Testament, eternal and practical application to our life!

Leviticus 16:14 . . . he shall take some of the blood . . . sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat . . . also in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times!

I. Jesus’ BLOOD in Gethsemane Redeems our WILLPOWER!

Luke 22:41 . . . He knelt down and began to pray . . .

Luke 22:42 . . . Saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me, yet, not My will, but Yours be done!

*How strong was the struggle Jesus faced?

Luke 22:43 Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him

Luke 22:44 And being in agony, He was praying very fervently, and His sweat became like like drops of blood, falling upon the ground!

*The First Blood Jesus shed and was placed upon the Mercy Seat was shed in Gethsemane!

*Adam lost his willpower in the Garden of Eden, but Jesus’ Blood redeems our willpower!

*Therefore, sin will not have dominion over you AND God is faithful to provide the willpower to you to overcome your temptation to sin!

II. The STRIPES of Jesus BACK Redeems our HEALTH!

Isaiah 53:5 . . . and by His scourging (stripes of His back), we are healed!

1 Peter 2:24 and He Himself bore our sins in His Body on the Cross SO THAT we might die to sin . . .

. . . AND live to Righteousness; for by His wounds (stripes of His back), you are healed!

*Satan can’t put on me what Jesus bore for me!

Numbers 15:38 . . . make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments

Numbers 15:39 It shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord . . .

. . . and not follow after your own heart and your own eyes!

*What are these garments and tassels? The garment is what we call a prayer shawl and the tassels are known as the Tzit-zit

The Tzit-zit consisted of 39 windings with 5 knots which referred to the five books of the Torah (Genesis through Deuteronomy).

Malachi 4:2 But you who fear My name, the sun of Righteousness will Rise with HEALING in its WINGS and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall!

*What is the meaning of the word for WINGS? It is a word that means garment, hem or corners!

*Where do we see fulfillment of this prophecy in the New Testament?

Matthew 9:20 And a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for 12 years, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His garment!

*What was this woman thinking when she touched the fringe of His garment?

Matthew 9:21 For she was saying to herself, “If I only touch His garment, I will get well!”

III. Jesus’ CROWN of THORNS Redeems our PROSPERITY!

John 19:1 Pilate then took Jesus and scourged Him . . .

John 19:2 . . . and the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head!

Notice the four emblems of sin:

Genesis 3:17 Then to Adam, He said . . . Cursed is the ground because of you—in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life . . .

Genesis 3:18 Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you—By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground

There were 4,000 years from Adam to Christ—that’s 4,000 years of plowing— sacrificing—thorns and 4,000 years of sweat . . .

*When the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, the Blood that came from His face was removing the curse and redeeming our potential for prosperity!

*Christ didn’t just die for us—He took our sins and our curse upon Himself and became our curse!

IV. Jesus’ Pierced HANDS Redeems our DOMINION and AUTHORITY!

John 20:25 . . . unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, I will not believe!

Psalm 22:6 they pierced my hands and my feet

Deut 28:8 The Lord will command the blessing upon you and your barns and in all that you put your HAND to . . .

*When they pierced Jesus’ Hands, the Blood He shed redeemed our Dominion and Authority and now the blessing has been commanded to return upon you . . .

*Today, as we consider the Blood Covered Mercy Seat . . . on this Palm Sunday, let’s give a shout of Hosanna, Blessed is the One who has come in the name and power of the Lord!