Preached by Gregory W. Lee
18 June 2006
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Hebrews 9
11. When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation.
12. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.
13. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.
14. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
-- the other night when we were having our discussion on selling the church pews, we talked about how the value of the church pews depends on what someone is willing to pay for it
-- for instance, someone might come in here looking for a new piece of antique furniture to invest in, so they will assign a value to the pew based on what antique pews like these can be bought for
-- someone else might not care about the pew as an investment, but the pew has a sentimental value to them -- the value they assign to the pew will be based on what it means to them
-- so, according to this reasoning, the value of an item is subjective and relative -- what I think something is worth is not what you might think something is worth -- the value depends on what a person is willing to pay for it
-- now, when we were talking about the pews that night, that seemed to make perfect, logical sense -- look at this fiddle that I'm holding here -- now I wouldn't give you one dollar for this fiddle -- but someone did -- they bought this fiddle at an auction for a fairly low price -- that is the value that the person who bought it and all those who were gathered there put on it -- that was what they were willing to pay for it
-- but, what if I was to tell you that this was not just a regular fiddle but that it was, in fact, a Stradivarius violin? -- a Stradivairus violin is considered the gold standard of the music world -- they are supposed to sound better than any other violin ever made -- they are extremely rare -- only about 512 of them exist today -- and they are very old, dating back to the 18th century
-- what if I was to tell you that no one at the auction realized it, but that this old fiddle is actually an authentic Stradivarius violin -- what would it's value be then?
-- a Stradivarius violin was recently auctioned off for $3.5 million dollars -- however, I still wouldn't give you a dollar for it -- I just don't want it -- I don't have any need for it
-- does that mean that this Stradivarius violin is only worth a dollar then? -- no, value may seem to be subjective and relative, but the true value of an item can only be determined by someone who is an expert and who can accurately appraise that item's worth
-- there's an old song by Wayne Watson called, "The Touch of the Master's Hand" that makes this point quite clearly -- in this song, they are auctioning off an old violin -- and the auctioneer starts off the bidding at one dollar -- he cries out, "Who'll give me one dollar -- who'll make it two?" -- but, no one would bid on the violin -- finally, an old man walks up, takes the violin and the bow, and proceeds to play out a melody pure and sweet -- as sweet as the angels sing
-- when the music stopped, there was silence for a moment, and then the auctioneer said, "who wants to bid for me -- one thousand -- who'll give me one thousand -- two thousand -- who'll make it two" -- and the people cried out, "What made the change?" -- the auctioneer said, "It was the touch of the Master's hand"
-- no one there thought the violin was worth a dollar -- but once a master showed the true value of the instrument -- the auctioneer changed the price
-- so, let me ask you this morning, what value do you place on the blood of Christ? -- or, more importantly, what value does God place on the blood of Christ?
II. Three Aspects of Sin
-- last week, we talked about original sin -- about how that great infection that came about through the fall in the Garden of Eden permeated our bodies and our minds and became a part of us -- because of this great infection -- because of this inherent sin nature in our lives -- we are born sinners
-- when we talk about sin, there are two aspects of sin that we need to recognize:
-- first, God defines sin -- He is the One who defines what is right and what is wrong -- it is His law -- written in our hearts -- that lets us know when we have missed the mark and disobeyed Him and sinned against Him
-- secondly, when we sin -- when we disobey God and break His commandments -- then we know it -- our conscience -- our inherent sense of right and wrong -- tells us that we have done something wrong -- and we respond with guilt -- we feel guilty when we sin because we know in our hearts that we have disobeyed God
-- so in order to bring us back into a relationship of righteousness with God, Jesus had to do something about both aspects of sin -- and this is where we start talking about the true value of the blood of Christ -- let's look at each of these aspects separately
A. The Aspect of God
-- because we are sinners -- because we have this sin nature in our hearts and because it has led us to sin against God and disobey His commands -- the Bible tells us that we are estranged from God -- we are separated from Him -- our relationship has been severed
-- Isaiah 59:2 says, "Your iniquities -- [your sins] -- have separated you from God -- your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear"
-- a holy God cannot look on sin and cannot be in relationship with a sinner -- and we learned last week that that is what we all are -- we are all sinners -- not necessarily because of what we have done -- but because of who we are -- this means that from the moment of our birth, we are separated from God
-- in order for man to be reconciled with God -- in order for man to have his sins forgiven and to be made righteous in God's eyes, the Bible tells us that blood has to be shed as payment for our sins
-- in the Old Testament -- in the law that God gave Moses -- God told the Israelites to offer a sacrifice for sin once a year as an atonement -- as a payment -- for their sin -- the Israelites could only come before God -- they could only enter His presence, if they were first covered with the blood of an atoning sacrifice
-- look at verse 1 in Chapter 9
1. Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary.
2. A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place.
3. Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place,
4. which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.
5. Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.
6. When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry.
7. But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.
-- in order to atone for their sins -- in order to be declared righteous and holy in the sight of God -- the Israelites had to be covered with the blood of an acceptable sacrifice -- and when the high priest went into the Most Holy Place -- the Holy of Holies -- the place where the Ark of the Covenant was -- the place where the presence of God physically rested in that time -- he had to literally be covered with blood from the sacrifice
-- now, think for a moment -- who was the blood for? -- was the blood for the Israelites or was it for God? -- who put the value on the blood of the sacrifice?
-- it was God -- the blood was the offering to God that atoned for the sin of the Israelites -- God was the One who demanded it and who received it as payment for their sin -- He was the One who determined if a sacrifice was sufficient -- if a sacrifice was valuable enough -- to pay for their sins
-- at various times in the history of Israel, the Israelites strayed from God and set up altars on high places and made animal sacrifices to other gods -- they offered these animals just like the ones at the temple -- blood was shed and offered -- but these sacrifices did not cleanse them of their sins because God did not accept their offering -- He saw no value in it
-- the blood of the atoning sacrifice had to be considered valuable and accepted by God in order to be effective -- the blood was for Him and not for us
-- look back at verse 11
11. When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation.
12. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.
13. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.
14. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
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.
-- the Bible tells us that Christ offered Himself as an atoning sacrifice -- He offered His blood as payment for all of our sins -- who is the blood for? -- who determines if the blood of Christ is valuable enough to pay for all of the sins of humanity? -- God -- God is the one who sets the value on the blood of Jesus
-- it doesn't matter whether we feel the blood or not -- it doesn't matter if we see the blood or not -- it doesn't matter what value we place on the blood -- the blood is not for us -- it is for God -- and we have to accept God's valuation of it -- if God accepts the blood as payment, then the debt has been paid
-- so the first aspect of the blood is Godward -- it satisfies God's demand and makes us righteous in the eyes of God
B. The Aspect of Man
-- the next aspect of sin and the blood concerns man -- in order for us to be saved -- in order for us to stand before God free of sin and guilt -- then we have to recognize and accept the value of the blood of Christ -- not the value as we see it, but the true value of the blood as recognized by God
-- we can only approach God through the blood of an acceptable sacrifice -- just as the priest in the Holy of Holies could only approach God if he had been sprinkled with the blood of the atoning sacrifice
-- in order for us to approach God, we have to have our hearts sprinkled with the blood of Christ, and we have to approach God through faith in the value that He places on the blood of Jesus for cleansing us and atoning for our sins
-- in other words, we are only saved when we do two things: first, we have to recognize the severity of our sin and the fact that we are separated from God because of who we are -- and, secondly, we have to recognize the value that God puts on the blood of Jesus and accept God's offer of the forgiveness of our sins through that precious blood
-- it doesn't matter if we feel saved or not -- it doesn't matter what value we place on the blood of Christ -- we may never fully understand just how valuable the blood of Christ is to God
-- but we are saved because God has placed a value on Jesus' blood and accepts it as payment for our sin -- the blood is our access to God -- not our feelings or anything that we have done to try to earn salvation
-- according to the Bible, receiving the gift of God's grace in Christ not only forgives our sins and reconciles us to Him -- it not only is sufficient and valuable enough to take care of all of our sin debt -- but it also removes the guilt from out hearts -- look over at Chapter 10, verse 19
19. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,
20. by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,
21. and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
22. let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
23. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
-- our guilt is removed when we recognize the value that God places on the blood of Christ -- guilt comes about in the first place because we know that we have sinned and are standing in the presence of God as a sinner -- as Isaiah cried out when he found himself before the throne of God in Isaiah Chapter 6 -- "Woe to me! I am ruined" -- when we sin, we feel guilty because we know that we have done something wrong and that God demands payment for that sin
-- but, when we appropriate the blood of Jesus -- when we recognize -- through faith -- the value of the blood of Jesus in God's eyes -- when we trust, through faith, that Jesus' blood paid for all our sins -- past, present, and future -- then our guilt is removed and replaced with an assurance of our salvation
-- when Isaiah cried out over his sin and guilt before God, he was told, "Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for" -- payment for Isaiah's sin had been made and accepted by God -- once he realized that and accepted that in faith, then any guilt that Isaiah had was removed
-- in order to live lives free of guilt and free of the accusations and condemnations of Satan, then we need to recognize that there is a difference between "feelings" and "faith"
-- we all sin -- every single day of our lives, we are all going to sin against God in one way or the other -- but if we repent of our sins and come to God and ask Him to forgive us of our sins, 1 John 1:9 says that God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and will purify us from all unrighteousness -- He does that because He has found value in the blood of Christ
-- and, if we have repented of our sins and asked God to forgive through the blood of Jesus, then we need to stand in faith that our hearts have been sprinkled and cleansed through the blood of Jesus -- it doesn't matter if you "feel" clean or not -- your sins have been forgiven because God has accepted the blood of Jesus as payment for them
-- once we realize that and accept that in faith, then any guilt that we might feel -- any accusation from Satan -- is removed
-- if you have sought forgiveness through the blood of Christ and you still feel guilty, then it means that you are not trusting in the value of the blood of Christ in the eyes of God -- you are still looking at your sin debt through the eyes of the flesh
-- in order to be assured of your salvation and to remove any residual guilt from your heart, you have to stand by faith in the blood of Jesus and in its value to God -- that is why this passage tells us to draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith -- our hearts are covered with the precious, valuable blood of Jesus, and we must trust that His blood has paid our sin debt in full
-- if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior and received the forgiveness of sins through His blood, then you can approach the throne of grace with assurance and without guilt because you are covered with the blood of Christ -- in the eyes of God, you are not a sinner any longer -- but you are righteous and holy and guiltless
III. Closing
-- the blood of Christ is valuable beyond compare -- it was offered in love and received by God as full payment for the sins of the world -- yours and mine
-- it offers forgiveness and cleansing of sin and guilt -- and it has paid the price for our trip to Heaven
-- but that blood is of no use until you recognize the value that God has placed on it by asking God to forgive you of your sins through Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross
-- if you have never done that -- if you have never accepted God's offer of forgiveness through the blood of Christ -- I would invite you to do so now -- to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior
-- perhaps you have done so, but you have been trapped by feelings of guilt that have allowed Satan to set up a stronghold in your life -- I would invite you this morning to stop looking at your sins through the eyes of the flesh but to look at them through the eyes of faith -- to recognize and realize the value that God puts on the blood of Jesus -- and to trust that His blood is valuable enough to take remove all the sins in your life
-- you don't have to feel guilty about your sins any longer, because they are not there -- Jesus' blood has taken them away -- and God sees you as holy in His eyes
-- whatever you need to do this morning, I would invite you to respond to God's word as you feel led -- the altar is always open, and if you need to come forward, I would invite you to do so
-- let us pray
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