Integrity Church January 27, 2019 Pastor Tony Balsamo Sunday Worship Service Series: The Blood of Jesus Title: The Significance of the Blood

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Dominic Small
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1 Series: The Blood of Jesus Title: The Significance of the Blood Today we re going to start a 3 week study on the Blood of Jesus and more specifically, what is the significance of the Blood of Jesus! From there, we ll go back to my favorite style of preaching, expository preaching, chapter by chapter, verse by verse and following this series, we ll begin our journey through the book of Revelation! We hear many references to the Blood of Jesus, scripture certainly refers to it, we sing songs about it so over the course of the next three weeks we re going to look at: Week 1: The Significance of the Blood of Jesus Week 2: The Sufficiency of the Blood of Jesus Week 3: The Supremacy of the Blood of Jesus Tonight, we consider the Significance of the Blood of Jesus! And as we reads through the scripture, we will see that this mention of the blood of Jesus Christ is referred all throughout logic would clearly demonstrate that the more something is referred to, the more significant it is and as you will see over the course of these next three weeks is that there is a significant amount of reference to the blood! Let s take a look at some scripture: John 6:53 56 (ESV) 53 So Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. Acts 20:28 (ESV) 28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. Romans 5:9 (ESV) 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. Ephesians 2:13 (ESV) 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Colossians 1:19 20 (ESV) 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Hebrews 13:20 21 (ESV) 1 of 5

2 20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Revelation 5:9 (ESV) 9 And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, Revelation 12:11 (ESV) 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. There are many more references to the blood that we will cover over the next few weeks and many of these verses that we ll unpack together but I want to hi light the significance of this subject by showing that it is a theme that is taught all throughout the New Testament And here s the deal, to fully appreciate the significance of the blood in the New Testament, we need to view it in light of what we see taking place in the Old Testament! So from a very practical sense, without blood a body cannot live! Life is in the blood! Nobody would debate that Perhaps this truth helps us to understand Jesus s hard to hear words unless you drink my blood, you have no life in you Clearly, in the natural. blood is essential for life however, as we will see, so it is true for the spiritual life as well!. and to gain a better appreciation for the significance of the blood, we must go back to the beginning not the beginning of the NT, but the OT! So here s the scene God creates all that exists places them in garden and puts a restriction in place, not to eat of the knowledge of good and evil.. You know the story, they eat, they sin and they become aware that they are naked Genesis 3:7 12 (ESV) 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, Where are you? 10 And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself. 11 He said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? 12 The man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate. 2 of 5

3 God lays out the consequences in the following verses and then we see that in verse 21 Genesis 3:21 (ESV) 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. It is the first sacrifice! It is the first time blood is shed in God s previously perfect garden! It is God providing for Adam and Eve what they could not provide for themselves! They attempted to cover their own sin but their attempt was not sufficient something had to die to pay the price for sin and so God sacrificed an animal! and for the first time in Eden, death is on display the shedding and spilling of the blood of an animal was necessary so that life could be transferred to Adam and Eve so they could live! It was a picture, a foreshadow" of what was to come! The write of Hebrews will communicate that later Hebrews 9:22 (ESV) 22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Going back to Genesis we see the story of what happened between Cain and Able: Genesis 4:1 10 (ESV) 4 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord. 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it. 8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? He said, I do not know; am I my brother s keeper? 10 And the Lord said, What have you done? The voice of your brother s blood is crying to me from the ground. Cain brings a bloodless sacrifice (fruit of the ground) Able brought a bloody sacrifice (firstborn of the flock) Cain s offering rejected, Able s accepted why? The presence of blood!! This is substantiated by Cain s defiant response you want blood, I ll give you blood and he kills his brother in defiance toward God! The demeanor of Cain continued throughout mankind and man only became more and more rebellious toward God to the point where evil was in the hearts of all men save Noah!. and God decides to judge mankind by sending a flood! 3 of 5

4 Read Genesis 8 (build up and hi light the first thing Noah did was sacrifice! Spill the blood and burn the sacrifice! Genesis 8:20 (ESV) 20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. A reminder that while things all around you are new there is still curse over the land sin is still present and the blood will continue to be shed as an atonement but even more as a type of another sacrifice that would come and ultimately pay the penalty for our sin! Abraham.. take your son, your only, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and sacrifice him to me you remember the story Genesis 22 God provides a ram instead of Isaac! but something was sacrificed that day! Blood was shed! God taught Abraham, the first the Jew, the importance of sacrifice and this continued for hundreds of years and through the generations of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! Fast forward to the time of Moses, whom God gave the Passover Here s the people of God, they re in bondage, they re the slaves of Egypt, being taken advantage of and being kept from worship and what was the cry of Moses to Pharaoh? Let my people go! And in Exodus 7-11 we see plague after plague coming upon the land of Egypt until the final plague, the most sever the death of the first born of every home. however God, as He always does, provides a way to escape wrath In chapter 12 God instructs Moses to tell the people of God to sacrifice a lamb onto the Lord and take the blood of the lamb and apply it to the door posts of their home. and Exodus 12:12 13 (ESV) 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. This is very profound, very significant, the difference between those who were judged and those we weren t was not based on nationality it was based on blood! This is what brings us back to the original point that was made. blood is synonymous with life death is synonymous with the absence of blood! When God gave Moses instruction on the Passover in 12:5, we see that it couldn t be just any lamb that was offered! 1. male 2. prime of life 3 spotless 4. innocent for the guilty! 4 of 5

5 The blood of that lamb when applied to the door posts would save people from the holy wrath of a righteous God! There was no other way! There was no act of goodness, there was no other kind of offering that could be given only the spotless blood of an innocent party. Do you see the connection??? Here he comes John the Baptist was the first to see him John 1:29 (ESV) 29 and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This lamb, Jesus of Nazareth is the only one who possessed all the same qualities that were demanded for the passover lamb! 1. Male 2. Prime of Life 3. Spotless 4. The innocent for the guilty! The apostle Paul tells us: Ephesians 1:7 (ESV) 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, Nothing can wash away our sins, only the blood of Jesus! Not works, not religiosity, not baptism or anything that we can do it is only by applying the blood not to the post at the door but to our hearts! 1 Peter 1:18 19 (ESV) 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. Understanding the significance of the blood of Jesus: 1. We re no longer striving for God s acceptance, we re moving out from it! 2. We re no longer under God s wrath, but adopted as the family of God by blood 3. Our sins, past and present are forgiven and washed away by blood 4. We are purchased by God by the shed blood of Jesus 5. Through the blood of Jesus, we conquer the power of Satan! 5 of 5

The Plan of the Father The Pain of our Savior The Pleasure of the Saint. The plan of the Father

THE BLOOD OF CHRIST The Plan of the Father The Pain of our Savior The Pleasure of the Saint The plan of the Father Genesis 3:21 21 And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed