New Salem Baptist Church

The Blood of Christ Speaks

²² But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, ²³ and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴ and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. ^[1]

We are the assembly of the firstborn. If you have come to Christ for salvation then you are part of a divine and special gathering! You are enrolled in heaven! I intend to focus upon verse 24: the sprinkled blood of Jesus speaks better than the blood of Abel.

[1.] First, what does the Bible mean when it speaks of the blood of Jesus? The answer is that term, blood, is an exact synonym for the sacrifice of our Lord upon the cross, that is, his death:

 ²⁴ For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. ²⁵ Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, ²⁶ for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.^[2]

See that in verse 25 the author of Hebrews writes about the blood but then in verse 26 he replaces that word with “the sacrifice of himself.” So, the word blood is a substitute for the sacrifice of the Lord, his death.

 Next, I wish to encourage you by conveying to you what the blood of the Lord Jesus accomplishes.

[2.] The blood of Christ speaks that it redeems those who place their faith in him. What is redemption? To redeem something is to get it back. One time something belonged to you and it was taken from you. You must buy it back. That is redemption.

Tom carried his new boat to the edge of the river. He carefully placed it in the water and slowly let out the string. How smoothly the boat sailed! Tom sat in the warm sunshine, admiring the little boat that he had built. Suddenly a strong current caught the boat. Tom tried to pull it back to shore, but the string broke. The little boat raced downstream.

Tom ran along the sandy shore as fast as he could. But his little boat soon slipped out of sight. All afternoon he searched for the boat. Finally, when it was too dark to look any longer, Tom sadly went home.

A few days later, on the way home from school, Tom spotted a boat just like his in a store window. When he got closer, he could see -- sure enough -- it was his!

Tom hurried to the store manager: "Sir, that's my boat in your window! I made it!"

"Sorry, son, but someone else brought it in this morning. If you want it, you'll have to buy it for one dollar."

Tom ran home and counted all his money. Exactly one dollar! When he reached the store, he rushed to the counter. "Here's the money for my boat." As he left the store, Tom hugged his boat and said, "Now you're twice mine. First, I made you and now I bought you."

The boat was redeemed. Perhaps a better portrayal of redemption is when, several  years ago, a very small girl in Texas fell down the shaft of an abandoned well. She landed on a small shelf many feet down. Had she fallen a few inches to one side, she would have plunged into the bowels of the earth.

A microphone was lowered down in an attempt to determine her condition. At one point she could be heard reciting nursery rhymes. Skilled and concerned people labored hard and long to rescue her. A tunnel had to be dug down and then angled to her location. The nation cheered as they finally saw a man come out of the tunnel with the little girl in his arms. The story of this incident recorded that “she had been redeemed from a pit.” Indeed, she was redeemed!

We belonged to God because we were created by him. Yet, because of our sin, we have been estranged from him. We came under the curse of the law. We need to be redeemed from the curse that is upon us.  One can say that we have come under the ownership of a curse. The Lord Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the law: 

¹³ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”^[3]

Thus, the blood of Christ redeems those who have faith in him.

[3.] Second, the blood of Jesus speaks propitiation:

²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.^[4]

That word, propitiation, is a big word. And, we rarely use it in modern English, so many people do not know what it means. But it is a very good word and it communicates a precious truth! Propitiation is the removal of God’s wrath.

The Bible is very clear that God is angry with those who sin. People do not like to hear that. They like to think that God only gets angry at the most heinous sins, the worst sins. All the “little” sins, the ones they admit to, he is not angry about. But, God’s word reveals that every sin is treacherous and a manifestation of rebellion against him. God is angry about sin. His wrath is against those who sin. The bad news is that all have sinned. We read that in Romans 3 just a few moments ago. Hence, God’s wrath is against all.

We receive propitiation through the blood of Christ. God’s anger is taken away because of the sacrifice of Jesus!

[4] Third, the blood of Jesus speaks forgiveness:

²⁶ Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” ²⁷ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, ²⁸ for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ^[5]

The blood brings forgiveness of sins! Indeed, God is propitiated because our sins are forgiven.

There's a Spanish story of a father and son who had become estranged. The son ran away, and the father set off to find him. He searched for months to no avail. Finally, in a last desperate effort to find him, the father put an ad in a Madrid newspaper. The ad read: Dear Paco, meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on Saturday. All is forgiven. I love you. Your Father. On Saturday 800 Pacos showed up, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers.

We all need forgiveness and we all desire forgiveness. It is available through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus.

Next, I hope to impress upon you the necessity of the blood for atonement. By atonement, I mean the full reconciliation between us and God.

[5] The blood of the Lord Jesus is necessary because no other means is available for reconciliation with God.

 ²² Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. ^[6]

This verse is so clear. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. But not just any blood will do. The blood of animals cannot take away sin. There is no other human being whose blood can atone for your sins because in order for a sacrifice to be acceptable to God the one sacrificed would have to be free from sin themselves. Only a spotless offering could take our place. And who is spotless? Who is sinless? There is no one! Only the Lord Jesus was sinless. It is only his blood that can take away our sins and reconcile us to God.

Jesus is the only way to God because he is the only one qualified to die in our stead.

Neither can anything else save us.

• Doing good things cannot take away our sins. All your good deeds are filthy rags before the eyes of God.
• Being baptized does not reconcile us to God.
• Taking the Lord’s Supper does not take away our sins. It is only a blessed reminder for us that it is the blood that takes our sins away.
• Church attendance cannot save us.

Nothing makes us right with God except the blood!

[6] Finally, the blood speaks that it is for God to see. The blood says, “I am for God!”

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. ^[7]

The blood is a sign for us but it is for God to see! “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” The angel of death would not kill the children of the Israelites if they put the blood on their doorposts and top of their doors. The blood is for God to see and refrain judgment.

[Conclusion] If you have not yet fully trusted in the blood then now is the time to do so. What stops you from trusting in the blood this very moment?

Some may say, “If only I felt my sins more, I would trust in the blood.” That is a  mistake of eternal consequences. Of course, we must recognize and admit our sins. But is our sense of sin to be partly our Savior? No! Charles Spurgeon well said:

The blood is to save thee, not thy tears.[8]

The words of the wonderful hymn, Rock of Ages says the same thing:

Could thy tears forever flow,

Could thy zeal no respite know;

All for sin could not atone,

Christ must save and Christ alone.

Someone else may say, “I feel like I do not value the blood of Christ as I should, so I shouldn’t place my trust in it.”

This is a similar insidious error. “God does not say, ‘when I see your estimate of the blood of Christ, I will pass over you.’ No! ‘But when I see the blood!’ It is not your estimate of that blood, it is the blood that saves you.”[9]

Still someone may say, “If I had more faith, then I would have hope.” It is not the amount of faith that you have nor is it the quality of faith, as if your faith had to be of a certain excellence for you to throw yourself upon the mercy of God. Jesus said that if we only had the faith the size of a mustard seed we could do amazing things (Matthew 17:20)

You only need to trust in Christ and have no concern about the amount of your trust.

Have you heard what the blood says?

You have no guarantee that you will live past today. If you have not trusted in the blood of Christ, do so now. Raise your hand and someone will speak with you privately in a room down the hall so you do not need to be concerned about people watching you.

“Father, thank you for the most precious blood of Christ. It is our only hope. You said, when you see it, your judgment would pass over us. Thank you that the blood of Jesus redeems us, takes away your wrath, and gives us forgiveness. Amen.”