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3.02.08
“WHY BLOOD?”
I Peter 1:17-21
Q:
How much would you pay?
If your child were kidnapped---how much would you pay
to get that precious child back safe?
A: everything
you have?
That’s
the price that was paid for our sins.
God gave everything.
Only it was not paid with money, but with BLOOD of
God’s only begotten Son!
This month we celebrate the two greatest events of all
time: The Death
and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Scriptures testify that we are saved by the blood
of Christ. This
THEME of BLOOD runs from Genesis to Revelation—beginning
with the blood which the Lord shed in order to make a covering
for Adam & Eve---and later to the commandment given to
Israel to offer sacrifices of blood for the forgiveness of
sins. Finally to
Christ, who came as the “Lamb
of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
His
death on the cross marked the culmination
of the shedding of blood for sin.
All of the previous sacrifices of animals was but a
SYMBOL of that one perfect sacrifice who was slain from the
foundation of the world. "As
in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
We
have learned this in God’s Word---some of us all our lives, but
do we really know, and do we really appreciate why God
demanded the shedding of blood?
This is what I want to address today.
READ
WITH ME From I PETER 1.
I
Peter 1:17-21 –“Since
you call on a father who judges each man’s work impartially,
live your lives a strangers here in reverent fear.
18--For you know that it was not with perishable
things such as silver or gold that you were
redeemed from the empty
way of life handed down to you from your forefathers,
19--but with the precious
blood of Christ, a lamb
without blemish or defect. 20-- He was chosen
before the creation of the world, but was revealed
in these last times for your sake. 21-- Through Him you
believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified
him, and so your faith and hope are in God.”
Peter
is sayingè
Because Christ shed His blood to make us free from the
condemnation of our sin,
we should live lives that honor the One who paid the
ultimate price for us--by living holy lives.
Redeem
–(Webster)
“to buy back; to get back, recover, as by paying a fee;
to set free by paying a ransom; to deliver from sin and
its penalties, as by a sacrifice made for the sinner;
to fulfill a promise; to atone for, to restore to
favor, to make worthwhile; justify.
(See RESCUE)
Rescue—implies
prompt action in freeing someone from imminent danger or
destruction or in releasing someone from captivity.
(then it says “deliver” implies a setting free from
confinement; then as example: “deliver
me from his interminable sermons”).
Wow, I’m in the dictionary!
As
we read: “It
was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you
were RESCUED (redeemed) from the empty way of life handed down
to you from your forefathers; but with the precious blood of
Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”
LET’S
TALK ABOUT THE BLOOD
It
must be important or it would not have such a prominent place
in Scripture—from Genesis to Revelation—there’s blood
everywhere! There’s
a lot of things God told His people 3
thousand years ago, which we have only begun to
understand in the more modern times—largely due to advances
in science.
1.
God
instructed ancient Israel to wash
the body under running water.
It was only in the late 19th century that
this became standard practice in the medical field. Doctors
would operate on one person, then go to the next without ever
washing their hands. For
this reason over half of the people operated on in the 19th
century did not survive, until a woman convinced those male
doctors to wash their hands before going to
the next surgery.
Then the survival rate increased dramatically.
2.
There
were many other instructions, such as the concept of quarantine,
isolating a person known to have a contagious disease.
The Black Plague during the Dark Ages claimed the lives
of 1/3 of Europe before it was finally contained by
quarantine, greatly diminishing the Plague’s devastation.
3.
Lev.
17:11
– God told Israel, “the
life of the flesh is in the blood.”
LIFE is in the blood.
For centuries Doctors had assumed that the blood itself
was the cause of many diseases.
Because of this, they used a technique called “blood
letting,” whereby leeches were used to suck blood out of
the body to bring healing.
More often than not, it brought death!
It is believed this was the cause of President George
Washington’s death.
Why
blood is PRECIOUS
(I
Peter 1:19) “Precious”
in Greek: valuable,
costly.
Among
the substances of the body, the blood is unique.
1.
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, your local
garbage truck picking up your trash and also delivering
your meals uncovered.
3.
While the red cells
in the body are carrying oxygen-rich hemoglobin, and nutrients
to the cells, another part of the blood known as
“leucocytes” or white
blood cells are present to defend the body against outside
invaders. When the body is injured, swelling occurs, which is blood
being rushed to the injured area, blood that is rich in
white blood cells. Infection
is expelled in a material we call pus. All of this is going on
in the blood!
4.
Blood also carries antibodies
and anti-toxins. These
simple insights are enough to let us know that the blood is extremely
vital to the existence of the human body.
Blood Has POWER - The power of the
blood in the human body is so great that an infection
in the bloodstream has the power to infect the entire body,
and the loss of
too much blood has the power to end human life.
èEverything
we have said about the blood thus far also has a spiritual
application. Without blood we die. 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!
A SPIRITUAL TRANSFUSION, or “die in our
sins.” (our
spiritual disease which is fatal 100% of the time)
The
SOURCE of OUR BLOOD?
A.
-
God told the nation of Israel that He is the One Who has
given them the blood. He was the Creator of it and He was
the author of the sacrificial system.
èLeft
to themselves, Israel would have chosen any number of methods
for conducting religion. It would have involved idols and
works. However, God
devised a system that involved death and suffering.
B.
This
had always been His
plan, (Gen. 3:21 and Exodus 12:1-13.)
You ask: Why
suffering and death? Because the sinner needed to know
first-hand the penalty
and price of sin. èGod
demanded blood from the children of Israel and the Lord still
demands blood today! Many in our day recoil at the mention
of the blood. However, it has always been God’s method
of dealing with sin and always
will be, Heb.
9:22 –“In fact, the
law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood and
without the shedding of blood there is no
forgiveness.”
C.
This
goes back to the concept of redemption
– paying a price for a sin one has committed.
God calls this justice.
And our laws are based upon a similar system of
justice.
è
Heb. 9:22 is a prophetic
verse. The Lord is speaking ahead to a time when He would
give the ONCE & FOR ALL SACRIFICE for us. He is looking
ahead to a time when His Son would go to Calvary and shed His
precious blood for you and me. That was the purpose behind
these sacrifices! It was in anticipation of the cross!
.
WHERE was the blood
offered? –
A.
The
place God mentions is the
ALTAR. A place associated with death and suffering.
From the altar arose the smoke of the sacrifices that burned
there continually. At that Passover Feast where Jesus &
his disciples had gathered, Jews from all over the known world
had also come to Jerusalem, and it has been estimated that ¼
million lambs would have been offered sacrificially.
è
Again, this all pointed
ahead to a time when the Son of God would go to an altar
called the cross and would shed His blood for the redemption
of mankind. Just
as the sacrifices of old were tied to the altar and burned
with fire, Jesus
was nailed to His altar and burned in the fire
of divine wrath! The price He paid was a terrible price!)
B.
WHY
did God require blood?
- God reminds them that the reason He gave them the
blood sacrifices was to make an atonement
for their sins. The word “atonement” means “a
covering”. God gave them the blood as a means of covering
their sins and of bringing them into fellowship with Himself.
Lest we forget, sin separates us from the presence of
God, Isa. 59:2. The blood has the power to bring us together!
It is by His blood that Jesus RANSOMED US---who had been
separated from our MAKER!
è
One of the most remarkable truths in the Bible is the fact
that God genuinely
wants to have fellowship with you and me. He has proven
this by the lengths He has gone to, to bring us together. The
fact that God would value us ENOUGH to sacrifice His own Son
is a truth that is wonderful beyond words, (Rom. 5:8.)
III.
HOW can
blood save us?
A.
The Blood Covers Sin - when the blood was shed and
applied to the altar, God saw the blood and not the
sin. It was removed from His sight and He accepted the
blood of the innocent sacrifice in place of the guilt of the
sinner. Did
you know that blood is not a transparent substance?
When you spill blood on something it covers it and you
cannot see through the stain.
èInterestingly,
of all the millions of sacrifices that were slain during the
days of the Tabernacle, and later the Temple, not
a single sin was ever removed. No,
They were only covered by blood and had
to be re-covered as they were recommitted.
This
is told very clearly in the book of Hebrews, Heb.
10:11-12—“Day
after day every priest stands and performs his religious
duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which
can never take away sins. But when THIS priest had offered for
all time ONE sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand
of God.” è[Those
OT sacrifices were never finished and sin was an ongoing
problem. Thank God, that has all changed!]
B.
The Blood Cleanses Sin - When we come to the New
Testament and to the death of Jesus on the cross, we find a
sacrifice that was filled with a
power that the Old Testament sacrificial system could never
know. What we find about the blood of Jesus is that it has
the power to take away sin! This was the promise of John the
Baptist, John 1:29 “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes
away the sin of the world.”
This truth is repeated throughout the Word of
God, Heb. 10:12-14; Heb. 9:24-28, 1 John 1:7.
C.
The Blood Converts The Sinner - When a person
under the sacrificial system brought his offering to the Lord
and spilled the innocent blood, nothing
changed in his life. He left the altar, perhaps
“moved” by the death of the animal, but otherwise
unchanged.
èHowever,
when a person comes to Jesus by faith and is saved by grace,
that person is forever changed. The blood of the Lamb has the power
to convert the soul. Not only will God cleanse your sins,
but He will forever change your life. The blood of Jesus has
the power to make us into new creations, 2 Cor. 5:17.
Remember—Jesus was GOD & MAN—thus the blood
that coursed thru His veins was both HUMAN & DIVINE!
A great mystery!
How
THEN should we LIVE?
Go back to I Peter 1:13-16.
“Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be
self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given
you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
As obedient children, do not conform to the evil
desires you had when you lived in ignorance.
But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in
all you do; for
it is written; ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”
In
light of what Christ had done for you, do you have a desire to
live your life for His glory, and love him with all your
heart? Is your
life reflecting God’s holiness?
Are you living according to His word?
Are you living your life in HONOR of the One who laid
down his life for you? Does
you life say to others: “I
LOVE MY LORD & SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST”?
What He’s done for me, He can do for you!
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