Based on His Ultimate Sacrifice, Part 3

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. If a single drop of poison falls into a gallon of water, the whole gallon becomes deadly. Likewise, sin is not just a small part of us.

It has infiltrated and polluted humanity. God opposes that which destroys good, just as doctors will try to eliminate cancerous cells that destroy the body. In the Old Testament, animal blood made atonement for sin so that God could draw near to His people. But this was a temporary covering, a shadow pointing to the One who would come. Hebrews 9 26 says that Christ has appeared to put away sin.

How? By the sacrifice of Himself. Only Jesus could fully and permanently atone for our sin, eradicating the poison, transforming hearts. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Thank you, Jesus. Let's listen in on this sermon from Hebrews 9, titled, Based on His Ultimate Sacrifice. This is part three of a message first preached September 9, 2012. The requirement of a covenant was necessary to come between the requirement of God's wrath and the desire of His fellowship that we would fellowship with Him.

Those two things are at all are at odds. Therefore, it required a covenant so that there could be the disposition of God to be able to interact with His people. Meanwhile, sin had to be atoned for. So then, in the Old Testament system, God could fellowship with people on the basis of sprinkled blood. Sprinkled blood. Now think about this for a minute. What does sprinkled blood mean?

I already said it one time before. Sprinkled blood. If somebody sheds blood, we even use the phrase today, shedding of blood. Blood shed.

What does that refer to? It refers to death. It refers to the separation of the spirit of man from the body of man.

That there is a death, that there is a separation there. And sprinkled blood in the Old Testament. It wasn't perfect. It wasn't human blood.

It was animal blood. But it was life nonetheless. It was the forfeiture of life. This created being has to give up its life in order to atone for the sinfulness and the necessary wrath of a holy God. That was the Old Covenant. That was the sacrificial system. And all of that was pointing to the one final ultimate sacrifice that would be made. The one final ultimate forfeiture of life that would be made by the perfect spotless Lamb. You see, in the Old Testament, there were massive amounts of blood shed. But all of it was just simply the giving up of life, the forfeiture of life because of the necessary requirement of God's wrath. And under that system, it could not offer permanent remedy to the problem. It could only offer temporary forbearance because it was forfeiture of life.

It was shed blood, but it was created blood of a creature, but it was animal life. And God said, I'm just using this as a temporary substitute, a temporary forbearance. It did not fully deal with the problem. It was intended to point to what would and what did fully deal with the vile destructive problem of sin. And so we understand then from this text in Hebrews Chapter 9 that only one thing could ultimately satisfy the necessary wrath of God.

Only one thing could ultimately satisfy the necessary wrath of God. And that's where we have the statement in verse 26. He, Christ, has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, by the forfeiture of his own life.

And that's exactly what Christ did. Remember when Jesus was walking towards the Jordan River and John the Baptist was there and he saw the Christ and he recognized him and he said, behold what? The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The perfect spotless Lamb.

Now understand who we're dealing with here. This was Jesus, the Christ, the second person of the Godhead, the one who is your creator in mind. He left his glory. He came to us looking just like one of us in human form, born of a woman. Okay, so he had a body. He had blood flowing in his veins.

And he came to us for one specific purpose. Why did God give him a body? So that that body could be nailed to a cross. The shedding of blood.

The forfeiture of life. And that's what Christ did with, it says, with his own blood. He didn't enter now the holy place because Christ isn't in a holy place here on earth. He's seated at the right hand of the throne of majesty on high. He's in the very presence of God in heaven as we speak. And he entered there.

Remember what our high priest does? He intercedes from you in the presence of God to guarantee the ultimate promise based on the ultimate sacrifice. He walked into the Holy of Holies, the very presence of God with his own blood on the basis of the fact that he had forfeited his own life with his own blood. Now listen, this is speaking of the forfeiture of his life. That he laid down his life. That he gave up his life. He didn't walk into heaven with a bowl of his own blood. Okay, it just says it means that he gave up his life. Now what is the significance of that? Remember when Jesus was on the cross?

Probably the most memorable statement that he made. It was in the middle of the day. The sun turned dark.

The earthquake. And Jesus said, and Jesus said, my God, my God, why have you, what, forsaken me? Folks listen, that's something you and I will never understand. God is Godhead. His trinity is three persons. Eternal perfect relationship with each other. And the second person of the trinity hanging on a cross cried out to the first person of the Godhead and he said, why have you forsaken me?

What is that? That is separation. That was the death necessary. God had to turn his back on his son because as the scriptures say, he became sin for us. As he took upon himself all of your sin and mine, what is the requirement of God? God necessarily had to say away with him.

Go away. And Jesus at that moment felt the abject loneliness and despair and death that our vile and destructive sin deserves. That's what atoned for you and me.

That's what redeems you and me. Why is this, why is it significant? Because it says he offered himself without spot.

What is the significance of that? This life that was forfeited was infinitely perfect. It wasn't the blood of an animal.

It wasn't even the blood of another mere human being. He could have been a great man. He could have been the greatest man. He could have been the most moral man. He could have been the male embodiment of Mother Teresa. But it wouldn't have worked. The only thing that could atone perfectly and absolutely for your sin and mine is the forfeiture of infinite perfection, a life of infinite perfection.

Why? To match the holiness of the one against whom we have sinned with his own blood without spot. Do you see the significance of this then? Remember the night before that he died, the night that he was betrayed, Jesus sat with his disciples and he took the cup. They were celebrating the Passover and he said this cup is the blood of the covenant. This is the new covenant in my blood. Jesus was just as much saying, this is my shed blood. This is what's going to happen tomorrow. I'm going to lay down my life.

I'm going to forfeit my life. And he knew at that moment, folks, that his father would have to turn his back on him. He knew at that moment that he would have to experience the abject loneliness and despair that our sin deserves. And he said, this is the new covenant in my blood. That is the arrangement.

That's what comes. That is what placed between the two of us, the holy God and we as sinful, vile people. What is between us and the holy God?

It is the forfeiture of this perfect life. He took our sin upon him so that his righteousness could be made ours. Then that is the covenant.

This is the new covenant in my blood. This changes God's disposition towards me because it says he put away sin. That means forgiveness is now possible. I can now be reconciled to God because the requirement of his wrath has been met and all of it was focused upon this one, Jesus Christ. Luke chapter 24, verse 46 records for us that when Jesus, after his resurrection, he was walking on the road to Emmaus and he was telling them that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer. It was necessary for the Christ to die.

Why is this? We find this in verses 16 and 17. It says, a will, a testament is only in force after the one who made it dies. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out pastor Rich's book, Seven Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's word the very purpose for which you were designed. Seven Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace weekdays at 10 a.m. you