The Doctrine of the Blood

INTRODUCTION

Let’s think about salvation for a moment. When you think about it, salvation is all about the blood; nothing but the blood of Jesus! D. L. Moody wrote, “I must die, or have someone die for me. If the Bible doesn’t teach that, it doesn’t teach anything. And that is where the atonement of Jesus Christ comes in!” ln every other religious system in this world, the burden of salvation is placed on the efforts of humanity, but the Bible teaches that salvation only comes through the sacrificial shedding of blood, the precious, perfect, blood of Jesus Christ.

Romans 3:25 “25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;”

Salvation is free, but it is not cheap. Three words express the price God paid for our salvation: propitiation, redemption, and blood. In human terms, “propitiation” means appeasing someone who is angry, usually by a gift. But this is not what it means in the Bible. “Propitiation” means the satisfying of God’s holy Law, the meeting of its just demands, so that God can freely forgive those who come to Christ. The word “blood” tells us what the price was. Jesus had to die on the cross in order to satisfy the Law and justify lost sinners.

As I was studying this message, I came across a story that illustrates the necessity of the preaching of the blood..

Some years ago, a fearful railroad crash took a dreadful toll of life and limb in an eastern state. A train, loaded with young people returning from school, was stalled on a suburban track. The limited (name of a train) was soon due, but a flagman was sent back to warn the engineer in order to avert a rear-end collision. Thinking all was well, the crowd laughed and chatted while the train-hands worked on in fancied security. Suddenly the whistle of the limited was heard and on came the heavy train and crashed into the local, with horrible effect.

The engineer of the limited saved his own life by jumping, and some days afterwards was hailed into court to account for his part in the calamity. And now a curious discrepancy in testimony occurred. He was asked, “Did you not see the flagman warning you to stop?”

He replied, “I saw him, but he waved a yellow flag, and I took it for granted all was well, and so went on, though slowing down.”

The flagman was called, “What flag did you wave?”

“A red flag, but he went by me like a shot.”

“Are you sure it was red?”

“Absolutely.”

Both insisted on the correctness of their testimony, and it was demonstrated that neither was color-blind. Finally the man was asked to produce the flag itself as evidence. After some delay he was able to do so, and then the mystery was explained. It had been red, but it had been exposed to the weather so long that all the red was bleached out, and it was but a dirty yellow!

Oh, the lives eternally wrecked by the yellow gospels of the day—the bloodless theories of unregenerate men that send their hearers to their doom instead of stopping them on their downward road!

1-THE BLOOD IS PRECIOUS

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood…”

A-Because it has a purpose:

1-The very life of the body is contained in the blood. Out of the many wonders of our human bodies, blood is unique: The blood is the only tissue of the body that is mobile. The body produces many fluids, but the blood is literally liquid tissue. Other fluids are limited to certain areas of the body, but the blood touches every single cell in the human body.

2-There are about 5 quarts of blood in your body. This blood travels through your body every 23 seconds. As it does, the blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the cells of your body, bringing life as it travels. At the same time, the same blood also removes the waste products from the cells. This waste never contaminates the good things the blood carries which the body needs. Imagine, if you will, the local garbage truck picking up your trash and also delivering your meals uncovered.

B-Because it is powerful:

1-The blood is so vital physically that if there’s an infection in the bloodstream, it has the power to infect the entire body, and then we know today that the loss of too much blood has the power to kill.

2-Just as the blood is necessary to physical life, the blood is also necessary for spiritual life! However, the major difference is that in the physical realm, one must have his own blood, in the spiritual realm, we must have the blood of another!

1 Peter 1:18–19 KJV 1900

18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

2-THE BLOOD IS PROVIDED

“...and I have given it to you…”

A-Someone provided the blood:

1-God says in His Word that it is He Who has given the blood. Only the Creator of the blood and the Creator of the system of sacrifices could give it! God’s immutable, eternal law is that sin leads to death. God’s holiness and justice requires a payment of death for sin, however, God, in His mercy, allows a sacrifice to die in the place of the sinner.

2-This becomes prophetic in nature when looking at the heart of the old covenant sacrificial system. The sacrifices all pointed to the cross of Calvary, where God would give the ultimate blood for the atonement for the sin of mankind.

B-There is a place where the blood is provided:

1-The altar is the place. The altar was a place of death and suffering, the altar would have the stains of the blood of the dead and dying on it.

2-We should never lose sight of the place our precious Saviour suffered so terribly on. He laid His own life down and poured out His blood on the altar of Calvary.

Romans 5:8 KJV 1900

8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

1 Peter 2:24 KJV 1900

24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

3-THE BLOOD IS POWERFUL

“...for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.”

Atonement: “The means of reconciliation between God and people.”

A-The Blood of Christ brings us to God

Ephesians 2:13 KJV 1900

13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

1-Those who were once without Christ, are now in Christ. The distance and barriers which separated us from God have been removed by the blood of Christ!

2-Only the blood of Christ brings us to God. It’s not by our own righteousness or by our own merit, but only by the blood of Christ.

Titus 3:5 KJV 1900

5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

B-The Blood of Christ brings peace

Colossians 1:20 KJV 1900

20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

1-Paying the penalty on the cross for the sin of mankind, peace has been made between God and the sinner.

2-We have peace with God because of the blood shed on the cross by Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:1 KJV 1900

1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

C-The Blood of Christ brings victory

Revelation 12:11 KJV 1900

11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

1-Those who follow Jesus Christ, the perfect lamb of God, have conquered and become victorious over the dragon!

2-How is victory possible? Because of the blood of the Lamb. The power of the blood of Jesus is sufficient for our sin.

CONCLUSION

The blood of Jesus Christ is our only source of spiritual life. Without Christ’s atonement for sin, we have no life. The Bible tells us “...without shedding of blood is no remission.” C. H. Spurgeon wrote, “Every drop of blood which flowed out of Jesus’ body is still in existence, and it is just as it was over 2,000 years ago wiping away the sins of mankind. The blood has been shed – the incorruptible, eternal, divine, sinless, overcoming, precious blood. It availed then, and it avails now, and through all eternity it will never lose its power to bring life.”

Compared to the precious blood of Jesus Christ, the most valuable things of this earth (like silver and gold) are reduced to meaningless, perishable things.

That is because the blood of Jesus gives Christians salvation of their souls, forgiveness from sins, access to God, victory over the enemy, and the power to live with a clear conscience, something that the gold and silver fixtures in the Old Testament temple could never do.

Are you thankful for the blood this evening? I know that my soul thrills when I think of the love that pushed Jesus Christ to the cross and that caused Him to lay down His life for mine. I praise the Lord this evening for the blood that He shed that day so that people like you and me might be saved and go to Heaven when we leave this world. Thank God for the blood!