Saved by the shedding of blood.

Heb 9:22 

And almost all things are by the Law purged with blood: and without shedding of blood is no remission.

Paul makes a strange claim here that almost all things of the law was purged or cleansed, purified, with blood. If you want to clarify that for yourselves re-read Leviticus. But rest assured that his statement is true. Throughout Leviticus we are told that the Priests and Moses would take the blood and sprinkle it on the book of the law, the mercy seat of the Ark, the altar and the people. But Paul makes an even stranger claim that without the spilling of blood, sin can not be removed. Do we truly believe this? Can we be sinless if the shedding of Jesus’ blood was a pointless act of violence, and not the means to God’s plan for salvation? It has been argued that remission of sin through blood is a strictly New Testament idea, and God never required spilt blood in Old Testament. Let’s look at this a moment. God Himself makes some fairly strange claims. In Lev 17:11 He says, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I haue giuen it to you vpon the Altar, to make an atonement for your soules: for it is the blood, that maketh an atonement for the soule.”

Mat 26:28 “For this is my blood of the new Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Jesus Himself claims that He would spill His blood to set us free from sin. Could that be what John the Baptist meant when he said in John 1:29  “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sinne of the world.” The death of Christ as a means to an end of sin and death? Jesus spoke many times about His death and the spilling of His blood. Not as a prophesy that He would be killed by violent men in a violent world, no, but that this was God’s plan. The disciples found this out when the Holy Spirit was given to them.

But let us keep digging. In Mat 17:22-23  Iesus said, “The sonne of man shall be betraied into the hands of men: And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised againe:” And Mat 20:18-19 says, “Behold, we goe vp to Hierusalem, and the Sonne of man shall be betraied vnto the chiefe Priests, and vnto the Scribes, and they shall condemne him to death, And shal deliuer him to the Gentiles to mocke, and to scourge, and to crucifie him: and the third day he shall rise againe. And John 3:14 says, “And as Moses lifted vp the serpent in the wildernesse: euen so must the Sonne of man be lifted vp:” Lifted up how? On the cross! But look at the interesting part in this verse, “And as Moses lifted vp the serpent in the wildernesse: euen so must the Sonne of man be lifted vp:” not will be, or is going to be, or even might be, but must. Why must? Because the death of Jesus on the Cross was God’s plan from the beginning. Too many times people give the enemy too much credit. Jesus’ death was not a victory for Satan in a battle, but on the contrary it was His defeat. Through it the prophesy of Genesis 3:15 was fulfilled “…it shal bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heele.” Jesus’ death on the cross literally crushed the head of the enemy, because no longer did he have control over us. No longer were we bound to sin, but had prevailed through the sacrifice of the perfect Lamb. And this sacrifice did not take Jesus by surprise for in Matthew 20:22 Jesus asks the disciples “Are ye able to drinke of the cup that I shall drinke of, and to be baptized with the baptisme that I am baptized with?” and again in Mark 10:38 “Can ye drinke of the cup that I drinke of? and be baptized with the baptisme that I am baptized with?” He new without a doubt that this would be His path. Remember that Jesus was God in human bodily form, He knew what He had placed before Himself. Matthew 26:2 reads, “Ye know that after two dayes is the feast of the Passeouer, and the Sonne of man is betrayed to be crucified.” And Luke 22:20 reads, “Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you.” God knew that the only way to cleanse is people was to become the sacrifice Himself, I guess He heard the old saying that if you want something done right you had to do it yourself.

Even in Jesus’ day people did not want to believe this, Take for instance Peter in the Gospel of John, the soldiers have come to take Jesus away and Peter strikes a servant with his sword, Jesus replies to him saying, “Put vp thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my father hath giuen me, shall I not drinke it?”

This was the culmination of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Death on the Cross, and nothing or no one would or could stop that. Even Jesus’ flesh tried to dispute this, we read in Matthew 26:39 which reads, “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my father, if it be possible, let this cup passe from me” remember that Jesus was not only fully God but fully man. And as we see from this scripture He had a fleshly side, but unlike us He had control over His flesh we know because He continues with, “neuerthelesse, not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

We also know that it is through the blood of Jesus that we are cleansed by through Rev. 5:5-6, “And one of the Elders saith vnto me, Weepe not: beholde, the Lion of the tribe of Iuda, the roote of Dauid, hath preuailed to open the booke, and to loose the seuen seales thereof And I beheld, and loe, in the middest of the Throne, and of the foure beastes, and in the midst of the Elders stood a Lambe as it had beene slaine.” Why would the Lamb look as if it had been slain if the death of the Lamb was not the pivotal point in God’s plan of salvation? The Lamb looked as if it had been slain, because it was. Jesus, the Lamb of God, was slain and sacrificed for the sins of you and me. Were as the blood sacrifices were performed to cover the sins of the people, the spilling of the blood of the King of kings washes away our sins, where the Old Testament sacrifices did not fully cover us, the sacrifice of Christ Jesus covers us so completely that we wash in His blood, and come out whiter than snow. Rev. 7:14  says, “of those which came out of great tribulation, that they haue washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lambe.”

Lev 17:11 says, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I haue giuen it to you vpon the Altar, to make an atonement for your soules: for it is the blood, that maketh an atonement for the soule.” For the life of the flesh is in the blood, we know scientifically that this is true. If you lose all of your blood you lose all your life. And I haue giuen it to you vpon the Altar, to make an atonement for your soules, did not God throughout the books of the law give us precise directions for atonement through the blood of lambs, goat, bulls, rams and even birds? And did He not place His own Son on the altar of the Cross for our sakes? “For it is the blood, that maketh an atonement for the soule.” Clearly God did make such claims about blood purification in the Old Testament and without a doubt God says that this is the only way that we are cleansed. Without it were are still stained with sin, and in no way will we enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus clearly states that not all that call Him LORD will enter. Matthew 7:21-22 says, “Not euery one that saith vnto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdome of heauen: but he that doth the will of my father which is in heauen. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, haue we not prophecied in thy name? and in thy name haue cast out deuils? and in thy name done many wonderfull works?” And Jesus clearly tells Nicodemus what is required for salvation. John 3:3 says, “Iesus answered, and said vnto him, Uerily, verily I say vnto thee, except a man be borne againe, he cannot see the kingdome of God.” Only in the belief of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ will you be saved and enter into the kingdom of God. Act 4:12 “Neither is there saluation in any other: for there is none other name vnder heauen giuen among men whereby we must be saued.” Through Christ and Christ Jesus alone, are we saved, not through our works not through His miracles, not through His life, but through His death upon the cross. In the believing that He spilled His blood to cover you with a Holy covering, and in the belief that He took your punishment on the cross are you cleansed. You can believe in Jesus being a good man or a good teacher, you can even think of Jesus as a great humanitarian, but unless you believe in Him as your LORD and Savior, the One who took your punishment, the One who offered up Himself to be a living sacrifice, the One who spilled His blood to wash you clean, the One who gave His life so that you might have life more abundantly, you will not be saved. God is a personal God, He wants you to know Him, He already knows you. He wants you to trust Him, to believe in Him, to talk with Him, and He is waiting to do the same with you but you must first submit to Him, and to do that you must call upon Him to be your LORD and Savior. You must ask Him to wash you clean with His blood that He spilt for you. So if anyone here today can not honestly say that they know that they are a son or daughter of the Most High God, but you would like to be, if you can not say that you know for sure that you are going to heaven when you die, just lift your eyes to the heavens and tell God that you believe in the LORD Jesus Christ, and that you want to know Him, you believe that He gave His life so that you could have yours, you believe He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried, you believe that on the third day God raised Him from the dead, defeating sin and death, and you believe that He is coming again. Ask Him to come into your heart and into your life, ask Him to Create in me a cleane heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Tell Him you surrender your life and your will over to Him and that you are ready to serve Him all the days of your life. Ask Jesus to forgive your sins, Amen and then thank and praise Him in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.