This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to day 3 of our look through Hebrews chapter 9. We're going to look at
verses 15 to 23 today. In fact, I'd like to begin by reading those verses.

As I read these verses, you might listen to what it has to say about the blood
of Jesus Christ. Starting in verse 15, "For this reason Christ is the mediator
of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal
inheritance. Now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins
committed under the first covenant.

In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made
it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died. It never takes
effect while the one who has made it is living. This is why even the first
covenant was not put into effect without blood.

When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to the people, he took
the blood together with water, scarlet wool, and branches of hyssop, and he
sprinkled the scroll and all of the people. And he said, "This is the blood of
the covenant which God has commanded you to keep. " In the same way, he
sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its
ceremonies.

In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood. And
without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. It was necessary then
for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but
the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

This talks about the blood. The blood that cleansed the first covenant, looking
forward to the fact that Jesus' blood was going to cleanse us. And one of the
questions all of us have behind this, and may be a big question in your life
about what the Bible teaches, is why?

Why is there so much blood? When we read this about blood, and the blood of
Christ, and the blood that was sprinkled on the first commandments, and on the
people even, and on the tabernacle, we think it seems so violent. It seems so
messy to us.

Couldn't God have found some kinder way? In the blood, we see the true nature of
sin, that sin causes death. In the blood, we see the true penalty for sin.

No one can take a light view of sin when they see this blood. No one can say
that God takes a light view of sin when he, when she sees the cross. So
throughout the Bible, you get this expression of the blood and the power of the
blood.

The word blood is used over 400 times in the Bible. Faith is only used 270
times. So this is a key teaching in the Bible.

In fact, to remove blood from the Bible, the teaching, would be like removing
the definition from a dictionary, or removing the solution from a mystery novel.
It's at the core of everything. It's the core of Jesus' teaching.

Jesus looked forward to the fact that his blood would be shed on the cross at
the Last Supper. Remember what he said? In Luke 22, 20, he says, "This cup," he
held up this cup before his disciples, and he said, "This cup is the New
Testament, the New Covenant, in my blood, which is poured out for you.

" He looked forward to the fact that his blood was going to be poured out. And
in these verses we just read, we talked about the blood of the covenant. We
looked in verse 22 at the fact that without the shedding of blood, there is no
forgiveness.

You might remember that Jesus once taught a shocking truth to the crowds who
were asking for more miracles. Jesus looked at them, and he said to them,
"Unless you eat the flesh of the blood of man and drink his blood, you have no
life in you. " Now why would Jesus make such a strange statement?

Why would he have us celebrate his blood? Here's why. The Bible teaches us very
clearly that life is in the blood.

Leviticus 17 verse 14, "The life of every creature is in his blood. " So when we
talk about the blood of Jesus, we're talking about the life of Jesus that was
given for us. But let me be even more specific.

We're talking about the death of Jesus that he accomplished for us. Why did
Jesus give his life? Why did he shed his blood?

We're not just talking about the blood that coursed through his veins, the life
that he had. We're talking about the blood that was shed on the cross, the death
of Jesus Christ. Why did he shed his blood?

The Bible gives us three very specific reasons. When you look at the blood, you
realize, number one, the suffering of Jesus. Jesus suffered because of our sins.

Sin causes suffering. When we get to Hebrews 12. 4, we're going to read, "In
your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted or suffered to the point of
shedding your blood.

" Jesus suffered by shedding his blood. He resisted to the point of shedding his
blood. That was the depth of his commitment to you, to me.

When you see all the blood that Jesus shed, it's a very clear picture of the
fact that he suffered. It's no antiseptic death of Jesus, no easy death. It was
a suffering death.

And God wanted us to know, sin is not pretty. Sin is not something that's easily
dealt with. Jesus had to be willing to suffer to go to the full extent of dying,
one of the most horrific deaths possible, to pay the penalty for my sins, for
your sins.

You see in a movie like The Passion, very clearly, the physical suffering of
Christ. What no movie can picture is the deeper suffering of Jesus. Because the
physical suffering of Jesus, as deep as it was, it's nothing compared to the
emotional suffering, to the spiritual suffering.

Can you imagine the emotional suffering of looking at those he created who were
spitting on him, who were jeering at him, "Come down from the cross," they said,
who were beating him with sticks, ridiculing him. Can you imagine the emotional
suffering? Can you imagine the spiritual suffering of Jesus?

God himself in human flesh taking our sin, my sin, your sin, a sinless, perfect,
holy God taking our sin upon himself. The spiritual suffering in that is beyond
our imagination. Jesus suffered because of our sins.

That's what the blood means. A second thing that the blood means is that Jesus
sacrificed himself for our sins. And that's the focus of these verses of this
chapter.

The sacrifice that's in the blood. The blood was all about a sacrifice. And this
sacrifice that Jesus made is something that's pictured, we've seen in the book
of Hebrews all throughout the Bible.

From the very beginning, God knew that Jesus was going to die on the cross, that
that was his way of reestablishing a relationship. So he started picturing this
very early in the Bible, looking forward to what Jesus was going to do. There's
a couple of pictures that we see in these verses.

We see the original purification of the commandments, the sprinkling of the
commandments by Moses, and we see the purification of the tabernacle by Moses by
sprinkling the blood. And there's another sacrifice that's not so clearly
indicated here, but that's all throughout this chapter, and that is the regular
sacrifices that were then made in that tabernacle, made in that temple.
Throughout the Old Testament, these sacrifices of animals were made time after
time after looking forward to what Jesus was eventually going to do on the
cross.

And we think, why would God do that? Why would God allow those animals to die?
Why would he allow all that to happen?

Because sin causes death, eternal death, eternal separation from God. In
Hebrews, we've seen this sacrifice is focused on. Back in chapter 7, verse 27,
"Unlike the other high priests, Jesus does not need to offer sacrifices day
after day, first for his own sins and then the sins of the people.

He sacrificed for their sins once for all. " And then in 925, he's appeared once
for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself,
something we're going to look at at the end of this week. It's a sacrifice.

That's why there's blood. There's a third reason that there's blood, and it's
the result of Jesus' suffering, the result of Jesus' sacrifice, and that is
salvation. Jesus saves us from our sin.

Jesus didn't come to condemn us, He came to save us. And the blood says, "I came
to save you. I came to rescue you.

" It is the blood that rescues us. That is the power in the blood, the power to
save, the power to rescue. Because Jesus took the punishment.

The fact that His blood was shed meant He died. His death was for my sins, for
your sins. He took the punishment.

He took the death for me. So that means, because of what He did, you and I can
live in relationship with God because He took the penalty. God does not want to
condemn you.

He wants to live in relationship with you. Jesus didn't come to condemn you. He
came to give you a relationship with God.

That's what the blood on the cross is all about. So although it is a horrific
thing, you think about God, Jesus suffering on that cross, it's a horrific
thing. It's not a horrible thing.

There's actually beauty in what happened there. The beauty of God's love for
you, the beauty of God's suffering for you, the beauty of God's sacrifice for
you, and the beauty of God's salvation. That's why the blood.

That's why the blood. Now tomorrow we're going to talk about how this actually
works. How is it that Jesus' blood can give me salvation?

But today I want to end together by just thanking Him, thanking Him for what He
did for us. Would you pray with me? Jesus, thank you.

Thank you for your suffering on the cross. Thank you for your sacrifice for me.
Thank you for the salvation you have given.

I could say a million thank yous, and it would not exhaust the thank yous that
need to be given. There are not enough words to thank you for changing the
destiny of my life, the destiny of my life. I was headed for separation for God,
already separated and headed for an eternity of separation.

But because of your blood, because of the cross, you brought me near. Thank you,
Jesus. In your name I pray, amen.