Christ’s Blood (Part B)

You have a spiritual nature if you're born again, and you have a sinful nature. Still, it will be with you until you leave this life. What would happen if with those two natures God came along and took away every temptation that ever bothered you and you no longer were tempted to sin and you no longer sinned?

What would happen? Well, your dual nature would be quick to be able to do that. Break out the trumpets and the red carpet for you. You are a glorious one. Today, Pastor Rick brings us part two of his study called, Christ's Blood, in Hebrews chapter 9. In verse 12 he goes on, he says, Well, for you Bible students, here's a thought. You see, the line of Aaron, they did bring the blood of bulls and calves in when they entered into worship at the temple. But what about the line of Melchizedek? If Melchizedek was a real man, he offered the blood of animals, blood sacrifices. But if he was a Christophany, then that's something to think about. Well, that's for you Bible students, but coming back now to this before us, the high priest.

Our Christ is a high priest outside the Old Testament system and he is beyond and above it forever. And there will be no human deaths and there will be no animal deaths in the kingdom of God and in heaven. But to get sinners into paradise, there had to be blood. There had to be death. There had to be death enough and blood enough.

Not in numbers, but in quality. The one who died to get the sinners in had to be worth it. Moses wasn't worth it. Noah, Enoch, Isaiah, Paul, none of them worth it. Christ, Christ only. He is the one glorious enough. He is the one that is able to do what no other can do, and notice that, to find me.

He is the one that is able and no other can really do this, not the way he does it. He is the one that finds me and forgives me. He finds me knowing I'm a sinner. He forgives me knowing my sins.

But it doesn't stop there. He finds me. He forgives me. He favors me. He likes me. You know, there are people that we love because we're commanded to love, but we don't like them too much. It's like, look, I love you. I'll help you change that flat.

I just don't want you coming over for dinner. But Christ, he says, I like you. Not the sin part, the flesh part. He sees beyond that. Remember we talked about those boards that made up the tabernacle of Moses? They were overlaid with gold. When you looked at that gnarled wood, you didn't see the wood, you saw the gold. There's gold in them year planks. When Christ sees you and me, he sees the gold of Calvary, of the empty tomb. So he finds, he forgives, he favors, and that's not all. It's forever. It's not for a while.

I hope he doesn't stop liking me. I hope he doesn't find out that, you know, not you, not me, but maybe you, if he finds out you're a Red Sox fan, for example, you've had it. No, it's not true. And for those of you who don't know, that's a baseball team. And if you don't know that, you have some serious cultural ketchup to do. But the four F's that I put there, of course, are intentional. The alliteration. I want to back a little bit of this up with Scripture. I want to back it all up with Scripture. He found me. Luke's Gospel chapter 10. Isn't this not beautiful to the one who was once lost but now is found? Newton, not Fig, wrote a song about this.

John Newton. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. That's why he came here. I'm going to go get sinners.

That's why he came to earth. Who else would do that? Who else would say, let's go fetch some sinners for ourselves? Clean them up.

Make them our own. Christ. We're forgiven. Colossians 2 13. Of course, this is all over the Scripture.

So pronounced in the New Testament. Because in the New Testament, forgiveness does not have the blood of goats and bulls. It has the blood of Christ on it. And you, Paul writes, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, your distance from God, the barriers that existed.

You, the dirty one. He has made alive together with him, having forgiven all your trespasses. Gone. God wills out of existence your sin. That's what forgiveness is. When God says, I want it gone, it is not delegated.

It's done. 1 John chapter 2. And you Christians who may always fret. Am I saved?

I don't know. Am I saved? I'm saved today. Okay, tomorrow am I saved?

Maybe there's, maybe you've got that issue. Satan has learned that that's a number that bugs you. And he keeps hitting you with that.

Maybe because you fail a lot. And so here's a verse just for you and for you who are strong in the faith. Here's a verse just for you. I write you little children because your sins are forgiven you. Your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. That's what it says because of what he did. That's the his name sake there.

It is thorough. And you are favored as I mentioned. You are liked.

Which is why? Why does God like me? Because God is love. God is perfect. And God is holy. And God is able. And God is able to take that which is not likable and make it adored. If that object will submit to him.

And if that object does not submit to him. Then the wrath of God will abide. Ephesians 6 talks about this favor of God. To the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved. That Greek word accepted. Kari too. It is the root word is karis.

Grace. But in this form it means to be favored. It means to be liked.

Accepted. Highly favored. Blended honor put upon. That's what the word means. Your Bible says.

That's what the word means. The Bible says that we to the praise and the glory of his grace by which he made us favored in the beloved. Every Christian should have a humble strut. And what I mean by that.

I don't mean we should strut like little proud roosters or anything like that. But there should be this anchor that holds us to says. You belong to the king. You're his subject. But you're more than that. Your family. You're loved. You're embraced. You are adored.

You are cherished. We sing about adoring the Lord. Oh come let us adore him.

We sing about our cherishing the Lord. But he loves. He adores. He cherishes us more. God loved us before we loved him. And he loves us more than we could ever loved him.

Piled up together. It's hard to believe it when you're suffering. But by faith you can do that. Then we come to the forever. Ephesians again 3 21. To him be the glory. In the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.

Amen. That's what it says forever and ever. The old King James puts it more poetically.

World without end. And so we have a robust announcement that we have listened to that we have heard from the scriptures. God has announced his care for us. Because we don't get the things we want.

Because we don't mature the way we want. We question these things. That's your flesh.

Your flesh is always insane when it comes to spiritual issues. It is never correct. It never gets it right.

It is always a connoisseur of fine wines. Oh why don't I get this? Oh why don't I get that?

How come he gets it? He says what with his own blood here in verse 12. He is the substitute for the sinner.

There is no substitute for him on any level. Christ died in the place of the sinner. So you broke the law of God. God said this is my commandment. Don't do this. And you did it.

What's the penalty? Well I'm a holy God. I'm not letting you around me if you're going to act like that. You're a sinner. You're unclean. And the penalty is separation from me forever. Death.

Real death. Not just the loss of life in this world. But God has provided a savior to make a way of escape. To resuscitate that life.

To bring them back. All that Adam lost. God has made a way to regain. And so he took the penalty. He took the penalty about death on the cross. With his own blood. His own life. It wasn't easy because he was God the son. Well you know I'm God the son. Watch this.

This is nothing. That wasn't like that. He suffered. The Bible says he suffered the shame.

Also. He's very serious. There's not a stroll through this life for him. It was a miserable experience. He saw the suffering. You know how much suffering exists in this life?

We look at things and we say. Why did God allow that? All the diseases.

All of the things that happen to human beings. But he's on it. And he's drawn a line. He says you can understand this much the rest is mine.

You can understand me and that should be good enough for you. So he says here in verse 12. But with his own blood. By his own blood Christ paid the price for sinners. We are saved by the blood of the lamb. Not by the Bible. The Bible leads to salvation.

It stirs us to salvation. But you don't get saved by the Bible. The church doesn't save you. Your parents don't save you. Your deeds don't save you. A lot of people think these things do.

There's a whole planet outside these walls. Populated with those who think these things can save you. You might as well bring your calf, your bull, your goat.

Just as ineffective. The word saves us from spiritual ignorance. It teaches us about Christ.

But it makes an offer. You young Christians here. Maybe you're raised up in a Christian home. By godly parents. Your salvation's not sure.

Still it comes down to this. You must be born again. You have to come get it. It cannot be transferred. It cannot be delegated.

It can be received. And that's it. And so the blood paid for all who are saved. The blood paid the eternal penalty of sin.

Christ work. You're saved by the blood of the lamb. Again, not the Bible, not the church, not the deeds, not the parents, not well-meaning people, not your own wish.

Not your own effort. You're saved by the blood of the lamb. Nothing but the blood of the lamb.

Without his death, no one gets into heaven. We need to be extremely clear about that. We need to be very clear about that when we preach Christ. That it's the blood of the lamb. And they must come and receive it.

And if they don't receive it, they're not clean. And so he entered the most holy place for all. No other can go there but him and the born again. Hebrews 10 19. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus.

That's what it says. Hebrews 10 19. God there willing out of existence the sins of sinners who are washed in the blood of the lamb. Having obtained eternal redemption.

Well, that redemption is to bring back what was lost. Adam and Eve. Adam was given dominion. God said, you know, just name all the animals. I'm giving you dominion over the garden.

It's yours. But Adam forfeited that dominion when he disobeyed God. He and Eve together.

They went down in flames. All of Adam's children, which we are linked to, are born into the wrong kingdom. The wrong dominion.

That's why we have to be born again into the right kingdom. And Satan is the sovereignty that Adam had in the garden. Now Satan has that sovereignty.

He stole it. He's the God of this age in that sense. Certainly not God over God. He is not a God. He's a creepy created thing by his own choice. And yet he is a he's evil and he is powerful and we are no match for him. But he's no match for Christ. And again, if you're a victim to unclean thoughts or spooky thoughts or things that junk that comes into your head involuntarily, as all human beings to some degree are, the Christians I have found the best defense is instant prayer. For someone else. It's so easy to pray for yourself, right? God, can you make me even better looking?

No, I don't think you can. I mean, that's not prayer. But prayer for others, especially lost souls. So any time he messes with your head, you become an intercessor. You begin to pray for a lost soul.

They could be on the other side of the planet. No, not general prayer. Oh, pray for all the people in Tibet. That's not prayer. But to have a name, a life, a face on the heart, to pray for them at those instances, you might find it to be a sword, a weapon and a shield.

And a sword can be used as a shield, incidentally. That is to the glory of Christ. Well, anyway, this Adam, the wrong kingdom, sovereignty given up, subject to Satan and his influence, Christ redeems us from all of that.

If we will have him, if we will accept him. Verse 13. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the uncleans sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh. Verse 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

We go back up to verse 13. All the ceremonies associated with the Jewish temple, they had to do with ceremonial purity, not moral purity. Couldn't make you clean. They couldn't stop you from being a liar or a thief or whatever else you might have struggled with. They just were ceremonial exercises.

They're meaningful. They were true, but they didn't have that power. As we know, the Holy Spirit gives. Now, the Holy Spirit does not give as much power as we would like in this life. What would happen to you as a person with a dual nature? You have a spiritual nature if you're born again, and you have a sinful nature. Still, it will be with you until you leave this life. What would happen if with those two natures, God came along and took away every temptation that ever bothered you, and you no longer were tempted to sin, and you no longer sinned?

What would happen? Well, your dual nature would be quick to break out the trumpets and the red carpet for you. You are a glorious one. Remember, remember how good you are wherever you go. You're better than everybody else. They do the stuff you don't do. You're better than everyone else. So God, knowing that, has left us to grapple with the flesh.

It keeps us humble. Could you imagine as a pastor, someone coming in and saying, Pastor, I have sinned. This is what I've done. I don't know what to do now. Could you imagine if I didn't sin, I would say, you know what? You're a loser. You need to be like me. But you can't.

Can you imagine how messed up the whole world would be? So God in His wisdom, and there's more to it than that, more than I could ever express or even know, but I know a little bit about it. I know that what helps me be patient with others is when you point at them, you've got the fingers pointing back at you. And so understanding that may help you knock the devil away when the devil says you're miserable and you're no good. And you can respond and say, Jesus knows that about me and a lot more, and He loves me nonetheless. And so those rituals, they stopped at the outer man. But the New Testament targets and centers itself on the inner man.

So you don't bring the offerings to the church as you did in the Old Testament. You bring you and hopefully one whom the inner man is being worked upon. Not a self-righteous, you know, self-righteous Christians. You just want to spray them with a fire extinguisher just for the fun of it.

It's just like, come on. But in all fairness, because I know how messed up I am, I have to be patient with them still. I can't be overbearing in my judgment and intolerance of them.

I cannot be self-righteous against their self-righteousness, which is quite irritating. Because you're the one that's messed up at this moment, and I've got to be perfect with you. But I don't want to be perfect with you.

I want you in handcuffs. It doesn't work that way. So Romans chapter 12, verse 2, talking about the inner man. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And so animal blood, you know, it was instrumental in saving Israel from Egypt. It just cannot save anyone from hell.

For that you need blood that is worthy. That is Christ's blood. And so people cannot afford to die in their sins.

And if they do not accept the gospel, and they've listened to the gospel, they have no one to blame but themselves. Now this red heifer that he mentions up here, the red heifer had to do with purification, purification of the priest, purification of those who have touched a dead body, would probably be very helpful in times of war, to make them purified, to be able to come to the temple again. In that sense, they were ceremonially unclean. They couldn't go to church until they got this corrected through the steps, and the red heifer was part of that. So don't read too much into that.

It'd be very easy to and maybe not so wise. But there's no need for such a red heifer, for cleansing, for purification, because we've got Christ. John's gospel, chapter 13, this is when Jesus is washing the feet of the disciples. The blood and water. The blood speaks of, of course, the washing away of sin, justification. Justification from sin. The water speaks of sanctification, that continuous cleansing through the processes of this life, because we are sinners, because we are not yet glorified.

The day is coming when we will be in heaven, we will be glorified, we won't have a dual nature, we'll have a single nature, and it will be singular, set on God. John's gospel 13, Jesus said, when Peter said, don't, you're not washing my feet. That's the work of a slave, and I'm not letting you, my master, wash my feet. And Jesus says, if I do not wash you, you have no part with me. So we're talking about that heifer representing purification, but Christ going beyond that. Not ceremonially, but morally, and eternally, and spiritually. John continues, Jesus said to him, he was bathed, needs only to wash his feet, and says, walk in Christ, but is completely clean, and you are clean.

And then he adds, but not all of you. You see, Judas was in the room. Judas was not the one. He was the one that was not clean, and it is up to us to make sure we're not Judas. And that's not hard to do. Don't go, but what if I become Judas? Well, don't.

It's not hard. Verse 14, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? How much more shall the blood of Christ?

In other words, all the other stuff, again, symbols, but symbols must be weaker than the realities they represent. Those symbols were weaker than the fact of Christ doing the job. He says, without spot to God. Jesus, that's what makes him worthy. He's sinless. He's eternal. He's self-existent.

All the attributes of God are his because he is God, equal with the Father. He said of no other in scripture, not anyone from Adam to Mary, and then on to the millennial kingdom, that no one is without sin except the Christ. Now, you say, well, I am a Roman Catholic, and I don't believe that. Well, then you should be in a Roman Catholic church right now. We don't believe that. And a whole bunch of other things, we do not share it and are not sorry that we disagree. We don't mean to be rude, but we are very firm.

And just as your pope announces anathemas on those who are not baptized in his system, we announce anathemas back on those who reject the scripture, which would be him. You say, now you're offending me. As Martin Luther said, I do not know how not to offend guilty people.

It's no attitude in this. You say, well, you're not saying it in love. Well, how do you say it in love?

Ixnay, uxnay, lovesnay. How do you, I mean, you know, where does it end appeasing people? You got one or two to say, man, I got it. Then you got another one, I don't like how you said it. Well, maybe you'll like this.

No, get in the flesh. And why do I say that? Because people from other churches will come here and passively demand that we honor their views even though when we find their views repulsive because they go against scripture. And, you know, there are a lot of people that think that pastors are, you know, pin cushions. I ain't one of them. And there are some others out there too. And nor should they be.

And nor should Christians see them that way. You've been listening to Cross Reference Radio, the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel in Mechanicsville, Virginia. As we mentioned at the beginning of today's broadcast, today's teaching is available free of charge at our website. Simply log on to crossreferenceradio.com. That's crossreferenceradio.com. We'd also like to encourage you to subscribe to the Cross Reference Radio podcast. Subscribing ensures that you stay current with all the latest teachings from Pastor Rick. You can subscribe at crossreferenceradio.com or simply search for Cross Reference Radio in your favorite podcast app. Tune in next time as Pastor Rick continues teaching through the book of Hebrews right here on Cross Reference Radio.