The Value-View-Victory of the Savior's Blood — William Skates

The Blood of Christ in Hebrews

Our reading, first of all, is from Hebrews chapter 2. That may sound familiar to you. Hebrews chapter 2. And our brother, Colson, has been taking us through these verses. Let's break in at verse 14. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also, that's the Lord Jesus, also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

Now come on over to chapter 9, Hebrews and chapter 9, and there's the contrast in this part of the epistle between the sacrifices in the old economy, the Old Testament, and then the work of Christ. Verse 22, Hebrews 9, 22, and almost all things are by the law purged with blood.

Here's the statement I want you to notice, and without shedding of blood is no remission. Notice verse 27, and as it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin, apart from the sin question, unto salvation.

Redemption Through the Precious Blood

Our next reading is 1 Peter chapter 1, and I mean 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter 1, and again familiar verses, verse 18, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

His death was no surprise. Notice verse 20, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God.

The Blood of the Lamb and Heavenly Glory

Now one more from Revelation 7, Revelation chapter 7. We're going to read about some people that John sees in heaven. Verse 13, and one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes, and whence came they?

And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple.

And he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sunlight on them, nor any heat for the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

Now the Lord will bless to us the readings from his Word of what we've been privileged to hear already this weekend. I want to speak to you about the Savior's blood. The Savior's blood. Human blood is a remarkable thing.

We'll all remember those days in childhood when, perhaps running along, we missed our footing, tripped and fell, and skinned our knee or elbow or some other part of our body, and how horrified we were to see this red stuff leaking out.

And our little world just fell apart. But blood is a necessary thing for the human body. That's an understatement. It delivers oxygen and nourishment to all the cells, and then in turn it also removes waste products from our bodies.

They tell me that there's about six quarts of blood in a human adult, circulating around about 60 ,000 miles of veins and arteries, and those little vessels as well, pumped by a heart that will typically, on average, pump about 35 million times a year.

So we're pretty much dependent upon our blood. Now we've read of references of the Savior's blood, and these are remarkable, and they introduce our thoughts to some remarkable truths that we want to just leave with you in the Gospel in the remaining minutes.

The Incarnation of the Son of God

We want to notice from Hebrews 2, we've been thinking of this already, that His blood is linked with incarnation. That means He became a human. Incarnation to deal with sin. Then we have read from Hebrews chapter 9, and the thought there is separation from sins.

Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. We want to think as well, from 1 Peter chapter 1, about redemption for sin, redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. And then that wonderful scene that we've just read about from Revelation chapter 7, and our brothers referenced Revelation 21 as well, where you have saints glorified without sin, and the blood of Christ is linked with that to bring them into that wonderful condition.

But, before God Himself could provide the forgiveness of sins through the Savior, the Savior must become a man, and that has certainly been emphasized. The creator of the human body which we have, He came from heaven, and He took upon Him that body that was prepared for Him in the womb of Mary, He became truly human.

So, we've read, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also likewise Himself took part of the same. Now, that's marvelous, that the creator became a human. It's marvelous to think of, I love to think of the universe around us.

You know, we're sitting here, you're sitting still tonight in the auditorium, and you might think you're perfectly still and not going anywhere, but you know, you're on the surface of the earth, and the earth is spinning on its axis.

If you were at the equator, it would be about 1 ,000 miles an hour you're traveling. And not only that, but then the earth itself, you know, is spinning around the sun at a speed of about 67 ,000 miles per hour.

And then they tell me, not only that, but the solar system in which our sun is found, it is traveling around the center of the Milky Way at about 448 ,000 miles per hour. And then they say the Milky Way as well, it's flying through the universe at some phenomenal speed.

Marvelous to think of that, isn't it? And yet, the one who was the creator and the sustainer of the stars and galaxies, He Himself became a real human, verily God, yet become truly human. That's more marvelous to my mind, to think of that, to think of the creator of all things sustaining the universe, and yet He Himself was sustained by the intake of oxygen into His lungs, by the circulation of blood through 60 ,000 miles of arteries and veins, by the intake of food and drink as His feet walked those dusty roads in Israel all the way to Calvary.

Marvelous to think of that, isn't it? That the incarnate Son of God was here on earth, all to provide God's remedy for human sin, for your sin, and for mine. Throughout the Bible, there is a principle that is found, we've read of it here in Hebrews chapter 9, that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission.

That is, there is no putting away of sin, or to put it this way, there is no separation of sins from the sinner without the shedding of blood. There's no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood.

Sin, Judgment, and Substitutionary Atonement

And why must blood be shed to separate my sins from my soul, from my spirit, from me, the sinner? Well, God was using those Old Testament sacrifices for a very important reason. You see, with a lack of blood, human life is lost.

In other words, if blood is separated from my body, my body will die. And the excess of loss of blood is a very serious thing. Very serious. So when there's an accident or a tragedy of some sort, triage units are set up and those personnel are trained to give immediate assistance to anyone arriving to that emergency station who is bleeding profusely.

They'll get first attention if they can be preserved and saved. Reminds us of this fact that sin is a very serious thing before God. If you're in the meeting this evening and you've never known what it is to repent of your sins, you're still in your sins.

And that is your problem before God, your sins. Those sins are so serious that God sent His own Son into this world to die for sinners upon the cross, to die for the ungodly. Sin is a very, very serious thing in the eye of a holy God.

And because of sin, you and I naturally are in a lost condition toward God. That's our natural condition before God. We are separated from Him because of sin separated morally, because of sin separated spiritually.

And if we die in our sins, we will be separated from Him eternally. Nothing could be more serious than that. Sin has put us at variance with God, our Creator, and who could stand against God and prosper?

If you're in your sins right now, you are standing in a hostile position before God. The outcome will not be good if you remain there. But God looked upon us in our need, knowing that all sins deserve the death penalty.

Physical life will end, but the soul will be lost forever to God if that soul is not delivered from the problem, the problem of human sin, my sins before God. In the Old Testament, we've been hearing something of the Old Testament as well over the weekend.

God taught this lesson to the people of Israel by the sacrifice of animals. And so to meet the sinner's need and bring him back to an offended God, that person who had committed a sin would put his hand upon the head of the animal as if to say, This animal is in my place.

And then the priest would take the knife and he would plunge it in and rip the life right out of that animal, and that animal would die violently by the shedding of blood. And the person who had put his hand upon the head of that animal was making the statement, This animal is dying in my place.

Now that was just a picture of what God would do in history. That picture was this, that one was dying instead of the other, and instead of perishing the sinner, he goes free. So we read a verse like this in the book of Leviticus, The life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

When we come to the New Testament now, we find the Lord Jesus says this, This is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. There it is. To separate the sinner from his sins, the remission of sins.

The blood of Christ was shed at Calvary. So those Old Testament sacrifices, they were pictures that were just pointing forward and moving on toward what God had in mind, the coming into the world of the Lord Jesus Christ, who would bear our sins upon Calvary, and he himself would be separated from God, bearing our many sins upon the tree.

Oh my God, I cry in the daytime, and thou hearest not. And in the night season, and am not silent, and over the whole thing. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? His death, by blood shedding, would bring separation of sins from the sinner who bears on him and embraces the fact he died for me, my Lord the King.

And that's all I need, that's all I need. A Savior who has died for our sins, a Savior who has died for the ungodly, that's me. And sometimes we sing the hymn, by faith I lay my hand on that dear head of thine.

And the sinner who believes is free can say, the Savior died for me, can point to his atoning blood and say, this made my peace with God. Separation from sins because of the blood of the Savior. I come now over to 1 Peter, and we've read here about being redeemed.

Redemption and the Precious Blood of Christ

You know, the Bible really is presenting to us the grand story of redemption. Right from those early chapters in Genesis all the way through to the close of the book of Revelation. Come hither and I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife, the Redeemer, and those associated with the Redeemer in relationship to the Redeemer, the redeemed.

There they are in those closing chapters of Revelation. But here in 1 Peter chapter 1, Peter says you're redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. I'll make a confession to you, I have never actually given blood, I don't like needles.

But voluntary blood donors are often needed when people need a blood transfusion. And one important thing is this, they need the right type of blood, the right type of blood. To deliver someone who otherwise perhaps would die, they need the right type of blood for his deliverance.

They tell me I've got O-positive blood, which is good for anyone who has positive blood as well. I don't deal with negativity, O-positive. So if you're a positive blood type and you need a transfusion, well I hope somebody else gives it to you.

But, you know, sinners, spiritually now, sinners will perish forever apart from the voluntary giving of the right kind of blood. The right kind of blood is needed. What kind of blood would that be? Well, it can't be something that is contaminated with sin because God would not accept that.

But thank God there is one who is without spot and without blemish whose precious blood has been shed. And that's what Peter's talking about here. You're redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. I love that.

You know, the other apostles, they all agree with that. John, he writes in 1 John 1 and he says that we have, it is the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, that cleanseth us from all sin. It's the blood. Because he has paid in full what our sins deserve, God is able to remove those sins, separate those sins from us, and cleanse us from every sin.

I think of what Paul writes there to the Ephesians in chapter 1, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. Wonderful thing this evening to be forgiven of all of my sins, redeemed and forgiven by the precious blood of Christ.

And so we can sing in the words of Francis Bevan, he says, conscience now no more condemns us for his own most precious blood once for all has washed and cleansed us, cleansed us in the sight of God. The terrible disease of sin requires the total removal of it for that soul to be fit for heaven, the precious blood of Christ.

You know, men today have declared many things to be precious, like gold or diamonds. Millions of dollars have been spent purchasing these things. Even a string of binary code these days on a computer can be declared precious, and people will spend millions of dollars again buying things like Bitcoin.

But you know, no amount, no amount of silver or gold or diamonds or dollars or Bitcoin could ever purchase our redemption, could ever remove one's sin. Only the right kind of blood, the precious blood of Christ.

The Value and View of the Blood

I heard a story once about a preacher out west, and he was speaking to a large company very disparagingly about blood religion and about the blood of Christ. There was one dear sister in that gathering, and she could stand it no longer, and so she stood up and she sang from hymn number 184 in the Green Hymn Book, there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

And she got to the second verse, and about a hundred people then stood up and joined in, that dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day, and there may I, as though vile as he, wash all my sins away.

And the third verse came, and about ten times that number arose and sang it through, dear dying lamb, thy precious blood shall never lose its power, till every ransomed saint of God be saved to sin no more.

I'd have liked him in there, I would have sung that too, with all that crowd. The view of the blood, the view of the blood. You know, it is primarily for the eye of God. You remember Exodus 12, when I see the blood, God says, I will pass over you.

When I see the blood. We were reminded today about the Day of Atonement, when the blood would be taken in, sprinkled before and upon the mercy seat, where the presence of God was above upon it. And to any other witnesses, angelic or otherwise, looking on, there was that before the eye of God.

The view of the blood, wonderful to think that God has looked upon the death of Christ and has evaluated that death as precious and sufficient to meet your need, even this afternoon. The value of the blood, the view of the blood, but I think of the victory of the blood.

The Victory of the Blood in Heaven

You know, one thing about all who will be in heaven is this. They're going to value the blood of Christ. They're going to value that. And it's going to thrill them so much that they're going to sing about it.

And that song will never grow old. That song is ever new. They sang a new song saying, thou art worthy for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation.

And they'll come the world over all the way through history and we'll all be gathered around him appreciating the blood of Christ. Now I'm going to stop at this point. I'm going to ask you a question.

Does the blood of Christ, does his death mean anything to you? Do you appreciate his death on your behalf? If there's no response, if you're just there cold and no response of appreciation, I want to tell you something, my friend.

You may never be in heaven. If you die in that condition, in your sins, you'll be lost forever. But oh, to see my need before God and to realize there's one who has come into time, there's one who has gone to the cross, whose precious blood was shed that satisfies all of God's claims against all of my sin to the point where he can remove them from me.

The very moment that I have Christ as my Savior and I gladly depend upon him, it is enough that Jesus died and rose again for me. Let me come quickly to our last scripture and then we'll close. I want to think of the victory of the blood.

It is seen in the glorification of all believers in that it takes them beyond sin altogether. If there's anything that will make heaven heaven for me, well, it will be to see the Savior, that's for sure.

But also it's this fact, I'll never sin again, ever. As pure as God can make us in Christ. Revelation 7 now, here are these that came out of great tribulation. They've washed their robes, they've made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Now what that is simply saying is this, their soul is saved because of the death of Christ. Therefore they are before the throne of God and they serve him day and night in his temple. And he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more. Neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Wonderful to think of heaven, that heavenly city. There's nothing hidden there. There's no one gets in there through the back door and remains hidden.

Because that city is made of gold, as it were transparent glass. You can't hide in heaven. Everything is open, everything is pure, like pure gold. But best of all the Savior is there. Loved ones that have gone on before, it will be wonderful to see them.

But most of all we'll see him in all his beauty. And we'll worship before him because he has been to the cross, he has taken our place, he has died in our stead. His blood was shed and he alone is worthy of every expression of praise and worship.

The Call to Turn to Christ

If you do not have him as your Savior, take this moment and embrace him as your very own. Knowing your sins before God are your greatest problem and they need to be removed. And turning from your sin, turn to Christ and receive him as your Lord and Savior.

Our Father, again we give thanks for our time together over the weekend. For the good word of God before us, it's a living word. And we pray that thou will use it now to speak to any heart that is with us that does not yet know the Lord Jesus personally as their Savior.

We pray that thou will draw them to him just now, that this conference will be crowned even with the salvation of a precious soul. We do give thanks for refreshment and for the kindness of thy people in providing for our bodily needs.

We offer our thanksgiving to thee for this as well as we offer these things now in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.