The Blood of Christ
Heb 9:22

Intro:

1. One of the  incidents of my youth was hog-killing time in Tennessee . I was just a little boy.  We were ready to prepare the winter’s meat. It could have been a misfortune for me. It was a cold day in about November and I was watching them prepare the rifle and walked right in front of it and practically looked up the barrel. When the men shot the hog, one of them ran up to it to operate so that it would bleed and drain quickly. I have never visited a packing plant but I imagine something similar goes on.  No matter how they are killed, they attempt to have the blood drained as soon as possible. We would never think of going out to shoot an animal and cut out its bloody liver and consume it immediately. The reason behind this comes from the influence of the Bible. Blood was never to be consumed.

2. The Bible speaks of the life of the flesh is in the blood.  (Lev. 17:11,14)  God commanded Israel that blood, whether of sacrifices or that of which was taken in hunting, was to be poured out upon the earth.  Blood was not to be eaten; Noah was forbidden by the Lord  to eat blood. When the Law of Israel was given by the Lord blood was prohibited. It was one of the four directions sent to the Gentile churches from the council  at Jerusalem  that we write unto them, that they abstain...from what is strangled and from blood. The reason being that the life of the flesh is in the blood. Without blood you cannot live.

3. It is of utmost importance, then, to remember that the shedding of blood, or the pouring out of the blood    meant laying down what God calls "The life of the flesh." The blood-poured-out was an open witness that the life with which it was connected, which life indeed it was, has been laid down. You remember from the 0.T. that when the Passover blood was sprinkled upon the doors of  the Israelites in Egypt that God protected the houses from the judgement that fell upon those not having the sprinkled blood. Paul writes to the Corinthians, "Our passover also has been sacrificed even Christ. " Christ poured out his blood which was his life for sinners like you and me. His blood was the life. He gave his life for our sins.

4.   There is danger of my repeating myself but this chapter is completely around the subject of the blood or life of Christ. But let us think together of the Blood of Christ.

I.    THE Requirements of a Blood Sacrifice. 7:22

1. The sacrifice is an intimate part of the Bible. Minimize the personal sacrifice of Christ and you have nothing more than a cold impersonal code of living. But God himself inaugurated the sacrifice The Lord instituted the annual Day of Atonement when the high priests went into the Holy of Holies not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the errors of the people. That which has been instituted by God and accomplished by His Son must not be despised or looked down upon. It was a vital part of the O.T. worship. It was necessary to offer a sacrifice before coming into the presence of God.

2. In the New Testament we find something different. There is a sacrifice made for us. When Jesus shared in the last supper he said to his disciples, "This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for their remission of sin.  When Paul in the book of Acts 20:28 said his farewell to the Ephesians, he said, "Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood.” Peter writes that we are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ who was sacrificed as a lamb without blemish and without spot. John speaks of him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood.   V. 22 tells us that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Without Christ's death we could not find forgiveness, or peace, or have the hope of eternal life.

3. One of the  strangest phrases in the N.T. is found in the gospel of John. When a man was crucified life would drag on for two or three unending, cruel days. But the Jews had a notion that the exposed bodies of executed criminals polluted  the sabbath. So they asked the authorities that the three sufferers should be dispatched with, and their bodies no doubt tossed into some  rubbish heap. The legs of the two thieves were broken with a heavy mallet--a hideous affair. But Jesus was already dead. But to make certain one of the soldiers thrust his spear
(an ugly weapon, with a barbed iron head, that made a gaping wound) deep  into Christ’s side. And at once there came out blood and water. In 1847 there appeared a book On the Physiological Cause of the Death of Christ, London 1847, in which Dr. Stroud, basing his opinion on numerous postmortems, pronounce  that the  of Christ was not due to the crucifixion but to the laceration or the rupture of the heart as a consequence of supreme mental agony and sorrow.   There was no physical reason why Christ should not have lived very much longer on the cross than He did. On the other hand, death caused by laceration of the heart in consequence of great  mental suffering would be almost instantaneous. In such a case the phrase "of a broken heart," becomes literally true.

The life blood was forced from its normal channels into the caul, or the  membrane sac enclosing the heart.   There,  being out of its normal channels, it began to coagulate into the red clot (blood) and the limpid  or transparent serum (water). This accumulate was released by the spear-thrust of the soldier and from the gaping wound there flowed the two components parts of blood distinctly visible. "
The sins of men were upon him. He  was bruised for our transgressions  and he  gave his life for our sins.

Il. The Results of the Sacrifice 11-13

1. The Scripture reads: But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Redemption, the word used here means deliverance from the penalty of sin. The giving of his life as a sacrifice was adequate to bear the punishment of sin which is death. The wages  of sin is death. The soul that sins, it shall die, said the O.T. prophet. Christ had no sin, but he took ours upon himself and therefore, he died under the burden of our sins. But by his death, and therefore his resurrection, we have deliverance from the penalty of sin.

2. v.14,  “ For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean; sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who thru the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? By faith and by living with Christ, the conscience is liberated from its corruption. An enlightened conscience is a great thing. The Bible speaks of having a good conscience toward God, a pure conscience  and it also speaks of a conscience defiled, a weak conscience, a seared conscience, disregarded; no longer able to function.

But by faith in Christ, the conscience is cleansed by his blood. It is cleansed from dead works to serve the living God! There  is a difference in actions. A man will give away his money to the poor  to charitable organizations because he is self-righteous and proud and seek to show a false humility before men.
In his false humility he is committing the most deadly of sins--pride.
The same man can be converted to Christ, have his life changed, his whole outlook remade and give away his goods and wealth because  it is more blessed to give than to receive; because he loves the poor  for Christ's sake. In the first action he is committing  and doing dead works which are recognized as nothing before God, on the second count, he is serving the living God in the name of Christ.

3. Another result of his sacrifice is that Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. He is now   in the presence of God the Father interceding for us. Paul in writing to the Romans, "Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yes, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

4. One last result of his sacrifice is that he came to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. v.26. Just this word  about this important point. You and I do not live as free from sin as we could. John says, If we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son cleanses us from all sin. The closer  we walk with God, the less sin we commit.

III. The Finality of the Sacrifice.

1. There is this summation of the O.T. sacrifices. v. 7 says  in the O.T. sacrifice the high priest made the sacrifice once a year every year for the ignorance of the people. V. 9 says that the sacrifices of the O.T. were a figure for the time, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience.

V.10   says that these offerings were imposed on them until the time of reformation. But notice verses 24-28. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made  with hands, which are the figure of the true but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy place every year with blood of others; for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world has he  appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement:  So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.”

2. In  chapter 10:14 it says: “For by one offering he has perfected for ever them that are sanctified. 18. “Now where remission of sin is, there is no more offering for sin.” What I am trying to say is this, There is only one sacrifice for your sins and mine.  It was made nearly 2000 years ago when Christ died, and rose again from the dead. The sacrifice of Christ was sufficient and final. It has been made, the problem is to accept it.

When you view the Roman Catholic church of today you can see that it has fallen into the old sacrificial ways of Judaism. The Jews were required to sacrifice daily.  The priest stands  before the altar and proceed thru  a ritual  called the sacrifice of the mass which is claimed as a sacrifice for sin.  They have not learned the words of the Scripture that  the Sacrifice of Christ is final.    In the New Testament there is no office of priest.  Peter says, Ye are all priests.  There is only one High Priest who is Christ Jesus.  All other offices have passed away.   The doctrine of the Virgin interceding, and the saints as far as that goes, interceding for men is based
on the misunderstanding of the sacrifice of Christ. Christ is in the presence of God for us. There can be no other. The doctrine of purgatory is based upon a misconception of the sacrifice of Christ which would logically claim it was
not adequate. If believers must suffer and be purged from their sins then the sacrifice was not adequate. But the Scripture declares he died to put away sin and the punishment of our sin was upon him. There is no punishment for the believer beyond the grave.

3. The finality of the Sacrifice  of Christ must be maintained according to the Scripture.  Roman Catholicism is the chief offender  at this point. A few years ago when protestant work was opened in the Dominican Republic a leaflet was distributed against the Protestants. It read as follows:
A religion which has No priest, no Holy Mass or Communion,
No Jesus in the Tabernacle, no Crucifix, No blessed Virgin, No Mother, no Rosary, No saints and no statues of them, no baptism for your babies, No visible forgiveness for sinners, No last sacraments for you dying, No prayers for your beloved dead, no purgatory to ready for heaven, No blessing in life or in death
not a candle, flower, or bell, No head, no rule, no catechism-
But only preaching and singing-only a Bible and a songbook
Such a religion is not, cannot  be the religion of Christ.

4. All this is a rejection of the Biblical revelation of the results of sacrifice along with its finality.

Concl.:

l. The Blood of Christ-which is his life- represents a most holy fact. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. Let us cling in loyalty, love and faithfulness to the Lord Jesus who died  once and for all time, that we might have eternal deliverance from sin, an enlightened conscience, an intercessor in heaven and hope in  eternal life.

(Newell, on Hebrews, was a great help and source)