The Necessity of Blood

Introduction

Please open in your Bible’s to Hebrews 9:15-28 that is Hebrews 9:15-28. That is on page 945 if you are using one of the Bible’s scattered throughout the chairs. Jesus died for our sins. But have you ever wondered why? Why did he have to die for us? Why couldn’t the story of Christianity be more like a hero’s quest you slays a dragon like Satan with the only blood being spilled coming from the enemy. Or why couldn’t Jesus simply just live a peaceful and happy life, die of old age and tell us to follow in his foot steps. Why can’t salvation be found in just being a generally good person who does more good things than bad. A cosmic scale could await us at judgment and as long as the good out weighed the bad we would be in. Jesus could be the one who sets the scale and weighs out our deeds, a perfect accountant of right and wrong. Instead, salvation comes through blood and death. Why is the shedding of blood necessary for the forgiveness of sin? This is the questions I aim to answer by looking Hebrews 9:15-28. Let’s turn there now, please follow along.

Because we are transgressors v. 15

Hebrews 9:15 “Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.”

In last weeks passage we learned that Jesus Hebrews 9:12 “… entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” And with this eternal redemption secured he is the mediator of the new covenant. A mediator is the one who stands between two parties in a contract or covenant. Jesus as our high priest stands between us and God. But he is not a neutral party, like you might expect a mediator to be. Rather Jesus is also the one that has paid for our redemption with his own blood. And as the heir of all things, which he is called in Hebrews 1:2, he bestows on us his eternal inheritance.

Christians are the ones who are called to receive the promised eternal inheritance. However, Christians are also the ones who committed transgressions under the first covenant. The first covenant or the old covenant was the covenant of God’s law. It said, obey perfectly or die. If you break any law you have broken all of the law. And breaking any law is to commit sin. And the wages of sin is death. We stand before God in great debt under the first covenant. No one measures up under the first covenant, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Thus, all are in need of redemption. We need to be bought out of our sin debt. Jesus did this when he paid the price for our transgressions. He died to make payment for our sins. Why did Jesus have to die? Because the people of God had failed to keep God’s commands. Thus, under the old covenant we are promise breakers.

Now, perhaps some of us have heard this so many times it has lost its power. We come in week after week and hear in one form or another that we are sinners before God and Jesus died in our place. Therefore, be thankful for Jesus. And overtime it loses luster. Or perhaps as we admit that all are sinners we tend to think little of our sin. If everyone is a sinner, then it can’t be that bad. It’s like speeding on 270. We’re just “going with the flow of traffic” it’s really not that big of a deal. Sin is so common, we no longer see our need to be free from it.

Yet, our sin is the reason that Jesus died. And without his death our sin is enough to keep us from inheriting the rewards of heaven. The smallest sin stains the sinner. And nothing stained can enter into God’s perfect heaven. We should not look at sin as a mistake here and there, but we need to see that as sinners we are covenant breakers. This I believe can help us see the reality of sin. In our day to day we do not simply overlook covenant breakers. Those who betray our trust deeply wound us, and our hearts cry out for justice. Covenant breakers are the close friends that gossip behind your back, they are the business partners that break contracts, they are the spouses that decide to leave. They breach spoken and unspoken social contracts and when they do it stings. We known intuitively that something must be done. This is what it means to be a sinner. You are a covenant breaker. An untrustworthy friend to Christ, a promise breaker, an unfaithful bride to the Christ our groom.

When we look to the death of Christ we echo the words of Stuart Townsend in his hymn “How Deep the Father’s Love Us.” He writes in the second verse, Behold the man upon a cross, My sin upon His shoulders; Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice Call out among the scoffers.It was my sin that held Him there Until it was accomplished; His dying breath has brought me life –I know that it is finished.

Why did Christ have to die? Because Josh is a covenant breaker. Because you transgressed God’s law. Your sin, my sin held him there. The sentence for breaking God’s law is death. The price had to be paid. And in Christ’s death, it was. Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

T/S- The Old Covenant, while set aside in the new covenant of Christ in its effects is still useful today. It instructs us in the reality of our position before God as covenant breakers and instructs in the requirements to be made right before. Why did Jesus have to die, because without the shedding of blood there could be no forgiveness of sin.

No Blood, No Forgiveness v. 16-22

Hebrews 9:16–22 “For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

Our author begins with an illustration using a will, like a last will and testament. He explains that as with a will that cannot be enacted until the one who made the will is dead, so the old covenant was inaugurated with the shedding of blood. The shedding of blood is synonomous with death. You cannot inherit from your loved one, until they are actually dead. In the same way, out eternal inheritance required the death of the one who secured that eternal inheritance and in the same way the first covenant was started with the shedding of blood. The inauguration of the the first covenant was in Exodus 24:5–8 in which Moses confirms the covenant is says, “And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.””

At this time specifically the tabernacle was yet to be constructed so Moses sprinkles blood on the people and the book of the covenant. It is Jewish tradition that teaches that at the erecting of the tabernacle that the tabernacle and its vessels. They were anointed in Exodus 40 and it was a common practice according to Leviticus 8. But the idea is that the initial dedication of the tabernacle also included the sprinkling of blood. Our author refers to this in verse 21. So, the tabernacle, the vessels within it, the people, and the book itself were all sprinkled with blood. And in this rite the old covenant was established. The death of calves and goats were a necessity. Leviticus 17:11 a passage about not eating blood explains, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.” Blood equals life, thus the shedding of blood equals death. In order to redeem a life, a life must be taken. What the old covenant teaches us is that blood and death are the currency for divine redemption.

Imagine if you had millions of Russian rubles or Chinese yuan even million of euros in your car right now. But before going to exchange it for American dollars you wanted to grab a quick lunch at Wendy’s, but you had zero American dollars. Your phone doesn’t a card loaded into it, you don’t have your wallet just millions of foreign currency. Can you get a sandwich at the Wendy’s at broad? Good luck. Currency matters.

And the currency of God, according to his covenant is blood. Why does Jesus have to die? Because it is the requirement of God. Heroics will not satisfy his wrath and our good deeds cannot atone for our bad ones. There must be a just punishment for sin. And God, had determined that the wage of sin was death. He set this in motion in Genesis 2:16–17 “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”” He remained consistent when he made a covenant with Noah, Genesis 9:4–6 “But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” And of course Moses sprinkled the people with blood in Exodus 24 when he confirmed the old covenant. Blood is required, if you wish to atone for sin. Hebrews 9:22 “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

T/S- Praise God, because blood has been shed. The precious blood of Jesus. God established his covenant and God saw it through.

To Complete God’s Plan v. 23-28

Hebrews 9:23–28 “Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”

The death of Jesus was appointed by God and it is sufficient. There is no more debt to be paid because Jesus paid it all in his death. And his death qualifies him to enter heaven itself to appear before God on our behalf. The high priest of the old covenant would go into the holy of holies once a year and year after year to make atonement for the sins of the people. He would have to sacrifice a bull each time for his own sin before he could enter and offer the sacrifice for the sins of the people. Jesus on the other hand does not enter into heaven, the real tabernacle of God unlike the copy that the high priest used, by the blood of something else. Jesus enters by his own blood. And he entered one time once and for all. He does not need to enter repeatedly like the high priest of the old covenant.

If Jesus did need to offer a repetitive sacrifice he would have had to do this since the foundations of the world. Sin existed once Adam and Eve sinned, but Jesus waited because he knew he only had to offer his sacrifice once. He waited for the appointed time of the Father. The death of the Son, what all a part of the grand plan of God. Why wait for the specific time? Why allows so many bulls and goats to die? Romans 3:23–26 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This is the Gospel Why?This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Jesus had to die and die at this appointed time in order to show the righteousness of God and to display that God is just and the justifier of the one that has faith in Jesus. Jesus died because we are sinners and he loves us, Jesus died because death is the price demanded by God for sin, but Jesus died first and foremost as a means to glorify the Father. Jesus died for His own glory. He had appointment to keep, an appointment that would see the Son of Man lifted up and whoever would cast their gaze upon him and believe in him would receive eternal life. And through his death he would lead many sons to glory. He knew that his death would bring an incalculable amount of glory to the God. And so, he died willingly to the glory of God.

The author of Hebrews appeals to our sense of appointment by pointing to the two most sure realities for each human being. You will die and you will be judged. And just as sure as your future death and judgment it is a sure thing that Jesus would die for sin and that he will one day judge the living and the dead. The death of Jesus was always a part of the plan. Acts 2:23–24 “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” And just as sure that Jesus would die and rise so it is sure that Jesus will return. However, at his return he does not come to deal with sin. That has already been done, and that work is finished. When he returns he will return to fulfill the rest of the plan. He will save those who are eagerly waiting for him. We are saved when we place or trust in Jesus because of the surety of his promises, but the actual work of our salvation will be complete when he returns.

Conclusion

Jesus is coming again. It is as sure as your death. And when you hear the Jesus will return there are only three responses: unbelief, joy, or fear. Perhaps you’re here and you just don’t buy it. A man rising from the dead to sit at the right hand of God and then to return… I know it sounds a little crazy. But this is what God says happened and will happen. I am praying for you, you are here for a reason. May God grant you grace and the ability to have faith.

Some of us here this and we have joy! We are like Paul when he says, 2 Timothy 4:8 “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” You are ready for the return of Christ, you want to see Jesus, and you are longing for the end of sin, pain, and death. You are ready to go home. But you also resonate with Paul in Philippians 1:21–26 “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.” He is coming brothers and sisters hang there and don’t grow weary of doing good. Until he comes, there is work to be done.

And to those who are afraid. I understand. Perhaps you are afraid because you are living a double life. Secret doubts, secret sins plague you. You are maybe like our original audience, Christians tempted to walk away from the faith. You know its true, but you don’t always feel like it is true. You believe in Jesus but you wonder am I really saved? What about this or that failure in my life? Am I really gonna make it? Am I Christian enough. Rest not in the quality of your faith, but rather in the object of your faith. No one will stand before God and be counted righteous because they had enough faith or a vibrant prayer life or because they never sinned sexually, or never yelled at a child, or never got an abortion, or never had doubts… There is only one reason that anyone will stand before God and be found righteous. Because Jesus Hebrews 9:26b “ … has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” That’s it. You do not need to fear if you are in Christ. Perfect love casts our fear and this is the love of God that he sent his son to die for our sin. Therefore there is to fear of punishment. You’re free!

Free to live unafraid, free to bring that secret sin out into the light, free to admit your struggling and need help, free to get counseling, free to accept help from others, free to acknowledge that if you have to keep going on your own you’re not going to make it. Free to make the hard choice and free to have the hard conversation. Do not fear his coming. Run to Jesus, know his grace, and eagerly wait for him.