Blood is Required

Introduction

How can a day with so much wrong - so much injustice - be called “good”? Good Friday.

Things were “good” the evening before - Thursday evening - Jesus celebrated Passover and for the first time shared communion with his disciples.

But quickly the tone changed.

Afterward when he was in the garden praying, he was interrupted by a mob carrying torches and weapons. Was this necessary for the one who was called Prince of Peace? They didn’t come to him when he was out in the open preaching.

It’s hard to imagine a more in-your-face betrayal than Jesus’ own disciple, Judas Iscariot , kissing him on the cheek - signaling to the mob that here was Jesus - or to them enemy number 1.

From there Jesus was taken to the Sanhedrin - a Jewish court - in the middle of the night. Could this not wait until morning? Well not for the High Priest and other religious leaders who were determined to falsely accuse Jesus of blasphemy.

Many mocked him and spat on his face.

Meanwhile, Peter denied him 3 times.

Since the Jews needed Roman approval to give the death penalty, they took him to Pilate and Herod, Roman governors, who questioned his motives. Though Pilate found no wrong he still had Jesus flogged.

Jesus was severely beaten to the point that he was almost unrecognizable.

Soldiers tormented him further. They blindfolded him and struck him and asked him to prophecy “who hit you?”

He was then dressed in an elegant robe and given a crown of thorns - making fun of the King of Kings. The same Messiah the crowds welcomed in - shouting Hosanna in the Highest, five days before.

Pilate offered to release Jesus back to the crowd, but they demanded he be crucified.

Jesus carried his own cross as far as he could through the streets of Jerusalem. When his pain and exhaustion was unbearable, Simon of Cyrene was forced to help him.

When Jesus reached the hill called Golgatha (“the place of the skull”), His clothes were stripped and He was nailed to the cross through his hands and feet.

Above him a sign with his criminal charges that read “king of the Jews”

He hung next to other criminals who would likely also die from their wounds or from asphyxiation when they no longer had the strength to push themselves up to take a breath.

Even though he continued to be mocked - “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us” - Jesus said no unkind words.

From the cross He prayed that they would be forgiven - “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.”

He said the haunting words that begin Psalm 22 “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?”

And by early afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice and took his final breath

To confirm that he was dead a soldier came and pierced his side with a spear bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.

Then Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus took his body and placed him in a tomb where no one had ever laid and a large stone was rolled in front of the entrance.

Jesus, the only perfect person, the only innocent one, to ever walk this earth was brutally murdered.

At the time of the events, none of Jesus’ followers understood what was going on.

But here’s the deal - someone had to die. Blood was required!

And it was always God’s intention that this time it had to be His only begotten son, Jesus.

This evening we are going to look 5 areas where blood was required and how Jesus’ blood satisfies all of them.

The first one points back to the Old Testament and the times of the tabernacle and temple

And that is this:

1. Blood was required to enter the Holy of Holies

This was the most sacred room of the temple. Only the high priest could enter, this only took place once a year on the Day of Atonement, after an intense cleansing process.

If a high priest missed any steps they could die in the presence of the holy God.

Hebrews 9:7 NIV

But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.

No one else could stand before a Holy God. And again, they couldn’t just do it whenever they wanted.

Hebrews 9:11–12 NIV

But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 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, thus obtaining eternal redemption.

Because Jesus was perfect, He could be both the High Priest and the sacrifice - the Lamb of God - whose blood would be enough to cover us.

It says there eternal redemption. Eternal means existing forever. What Jesus did was permanent.

Redemption means we have been bought out of slavery! We no longer have to be slaves to sin or fear to the devil or to the fires of hell

Jesus is our high priest who enters into the most holy place where we could never go on our own. And he goes well beyond any human priest.

Contrast him with another high priest in the passion story - the events between Palm Sunday and Easter.

When Jesus was arrested and taken to Caiaphas, the high priest that year, we learn that Caiaphas and the Jewish court were looking for a way to have Jesus put to death. Caiaphas directly accused Jesus of blasphemy - to speak with contempt about God or to be defiantly irreverent.

Ironically, earlier that year, Caiaphas prophesied by God’s Spirit that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation and all the scattered children of God (John 11:51)

But now, Caiaphas failed to understand that Jesus was the true high priest who could enter the Holy of Holies forevermore by His own blood

Matthew records that at the moment Jesus died the veil that was covering the entrance to the Holy of Holies was torn in two. The veil that was separating us and God. There is now no longer a barrier to us directly encountering God. Only the blood of Jesus could do that!

Second . . .

2. Blood was required to cleanse our consciences

The author of Hebrews says that the blood of animals may have made someone outwardly clean, but what about the inside? What about our hearts? What about our souls?

Hebrews 9:14 NIV

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!

We’ve all been guilty of sin. The Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Maybe you’re here today and feeling guilty about sin in your life. And perhaps that is appropriate because our sin does grieve God.

As bad as those sins may be - even acts that lead to death, Jesus has come to clear your guilt!

You cannot do it on your own. It’s not based on a scale system - how much good you can do - how much you give - how many prayers you pray.

We cannot cleanse our own consciences.

There were some in the passion story who tried to do that. The religious leaders (priests and elders at the Jewish court) tried to justify their sin by putting themselves on a pedestal above others. They thought - “well we’re not as bad as those other sinners.” They were wrong!

The Roman Governor Pilate literally washed his hands in front of the Jews before handing Jesus over to be crucified. Pilate said “I am innocent of this man’s blood.”

Was he? No! Pilate had authority to do what was right and protect an innocent man from murder. He was just as guilty as all of us whose sin put Jesus on that cross.

We cannot cleanse our consciences of the sins we have committed, only the blood of Jesus can do that!

Third . . .

3. Blood was required for a will to take effect

A will is a legal document. Have any of you written one with instructions for when you pass away?

Some of you have received an inheritance from a family member

Hebrews 9:16–18 NIV

In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood.

When God spoke to Moses and the Israelites, He had Moses take the blood of calves and sprinkle the scroll (where the covenant was written), sprinkle the people, and sprinkle the tabernacle and all its furnishings with blood.

This is a bit strange for us today, but the point was that blood was binding.

Even in our society an inheritance comes only after someone has passed away - when their heart stops and their blood stops circulating. Then the will takes effect.

In the passion story we see some wicked men making their own inheritance. As Jesus was dying on the cross, soldiers nearby took his clothes and cast lots (similar to rolling dice) and they gambled to see who could keep his clothes.

A more beautiful picture of a will with the passion events was when Jesus’ mother, Mary, and his disciple John were at the foot of the cross. As Jesus was dying he expressed his will for them to care for one another as family.

Jesus said, “Woman, here is your son” and “Here is your mother.”

What was written in Jesus’ will for us?

Part of his will is that like John & Mary we would become a family in Christ

But it goes far beyond that to the eternal.

1 Peter 1 talks about our inheritance. Unlike any kind of inheritance from our relatives - money, furniture, goods. Our inheritance from Christ will “never perish, spoil, or fade.” Our inheritance is “kept in heaven for [us], who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”

And Peter also says, believers are now “receiving the end result of [our] faith, the salvation of [our] souls.”

The richest person on earth could not leave us a will that has eternal implications. Only the blood of Jesus could do that!

Next . . .

4. Blood was required for the forgiveness of sins

Hebrews 9:22 NIV

In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

If you are like me, maybe you’ve thought “well I’ve sinned a lot.” And even after receiving forgiveness, I’ve sinned some more.

Is there enough blood to forgive someone like me?

Hebrews explains that it is NOT necessary for Jesus to offer himself again and again.

Hebrews 9:26–28 NIV

Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

The thing about forgiveness is that in order for us to benefit, we must receive it.

There were many in the passion story who needed forgiveness, but as far as we know never received it. From the pharisees to Judas Iscariot to the governors and soldiers

But there were some who did receive it, including Jesus’ disciples who went on to build the church.

There were two criminals hanging on crosses next to Jesus.

One of them hurled insults at Jesus and died without reconciling, but the other put his faith in Jesus. The last hours of this criminal’s life - a life of sin - he gave his life to Jesus and received forgiveness.

And Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

We have all sinned against a perfect and holy God. There’s no recovering from that. There’s no work we can do on our own to be fully forgiven. Only the blood of Jesus can do that!

Finally . . .

5. Blood was required to bring us from death to life

We will celebrate the “to life” aspect on Sunday and focus in more on how we have life

But I want us to remember that before we could truly live - before Easter - someone had to die

And thank God for Jesus taking our place

During the passion events when Jesus was with Pilate and before he was flogged, Pilate gave the crowd an opportunity to release a prisoner.

There was a notorious criminal named Barabbas and then there was Jesus.

Barabbas was the guilty one. He should have gone to the cross. Not Jesus, who was completely innocent.

But the crowds demanded that the guilty one be freed and Jesus receive the death penalty.

How unjust! How disturbing!

The reality is that we are all Barabbas. We deserve death because of our sins. We deserve separation from God. We’ve done it to ourselves in our foolishness and pride. It would be fair for us to each give account with our own blood.

But we get an opportunity to live because Jesus shed His blood and died in our place.

Prepare for Communion

At the end of the service you are invited to participate in communion.

If you’ve not received the cup when you entered, please raise your hand and an usher will bring you one.

This is an act of worship that we do on a regular basis together as commanded by Jesus himself.

I mentioned earlier that He first shared in communion with his disciples on Thursday night at the last supper.

But there was a time before that when he taught on his body and blood and it made some people really uncomfortable

In John 6, Jesus first spoke about his body being the bread of life. He compared himself to the manna (or bread) that God brought down from heaven to sustain the Israelites as they wandered in the desert. Jesus said “I Am the bread of Life.”

And He said that whoever eats this bread (speaking of His body) will live forever.

Many around him misunderstood. Thinking he was going crazy or talking about cannibalism. But Jesus was pointing to Good Friday. Someone had to die for the people and that someone was Jesus. His language intensified to get their attention.

John 6:53–57 NIV

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.

It is not communion itself that saves, but it is the body and the blood of Christ, poured out almost 2,000 years ago on the cross that brings us from death to life.

When we take communion together this evening, remember what He has done for you.

Take His blood and His body seriously!

1 Corinthians 11:26–28 NIV

For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup.

Closing

I want to invite you to prepare your hearts for communion. Where do you stand with Christ? Have you repented (that is turned from your sins) and asked for forgiveness ? If not, please take the next few minutes to do that.

Have you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior? The offer is on the table. Have you accepted it? Has his blood covered you so that you can enter Holy ground and live? So that your conscience can be clear? So that you have an inheritance and are already receiving salvation? So that all of your sins past, present, and even future are already forgiven? And so you can move from death to life?

If you are ready to receive Jesus tonight, we would love to pray with you. Prayer partners are available at the front of the stage. Please come forward during this next song if you need prayer.

After this next song, for whoever is ready, we will then receive communion together.

First, allow me to pray and then we will continue in worship.

Song - Communion - then invitation to the glass