Good morning. My name is James Booth. I'm the youth director here. Looking forward to being able to share with you all this morning. We're gonna be in Hebrews chapter nine. chapter 9 verses 11-22, so if you want to go and turn in your Bibles to that. As I was preparing this week, I kept thinking back on all the songs in the hymn book, maybe modern-day songs that have to do with the blood. And there's nothing but the blood. There's power in the blood, washed in the blood, covered by the blood. There's a fountain filled with blood. There's a number of songs, and rightfully so, as we will see this morning. But another thing that came to mind as I was preparing is something that we're all familiar with, is going to the doctor. Some of y'all are probably even dreading, cringing at those words of going to the doctor, because you find yourself going multiple times in a week. But as we look at this passage, I think it's a great example, a great imagery of what the gospel does. If you go to the doctor, this is what you hope happens, is that you go in, you tell them what your problem is, they diagnose your condition, and then they prescribe the proper and the necessary remedy for your need. If you go into the doctor and that doesn't happen, then usually you are probably upset. It's like, I just wasted all my time walking in here. A good doctor will take time with their patients and to hear of what's going on. I had bad experience before. I had my gallbladder taken out. I had a bad experience and thankfully I had a doctor that sat with me and listen to what was going on and then prescribe the proper and necessary remedy for my need. And so when we look at what the gospel does is it does just that. The gospel reveals the depth of our need. It shows the greatness of God's provision and how it meets our greatest need. You know, it'd be crazy to think that we would put a Band-Aid on leprosy or that we would use aspirin to cure cancer. Those things don't fit the need. And so when we think of that, how much more care should we take when it comes to our need for salvation? That our need was so great that it took the life, the death, and the resurrection of Christ to satisfy us. the son of God himself. And so to minimize our condition, to minimize our sin, is to marginalize and to belittle the gospel, to make it less than what it actually is. So let's look at verses 11 through 22 of Hebrews 9. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, he entered once for all in the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by the means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of a defiled person with ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of flesh, how much more will the blood of Jesus, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant. so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under his first covenant. For where a will is involved, the death of the one who has made it must be established, for a will takes effect only at death, since it is not a force as long as the one who made it is alive. Therefore, not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of the goats and the calves, and with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, this is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you. And in the same way, he sprinkled with blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin." This week, we're going to see three things from this passage. We're back to normal points, no double points this week. The first that we're gonna look at is, there is the necessity for the blood of Jesus. The necessity for the blood of Jesus. When we look at scripture, from the beginning pages to the end, from Genesis to Revolution, there are two fundamental principles of scripture. The first is that our sin is bigger than we think. Our sin is much greater than what we think it is. It's important to think on and to assess how we think of human nature, how we think of sin. Ultimately, there are three ways that we can look at this. The first is that man is well, that man is healthy, that when we examine mankind and we look at our situation before God, that man is well, that we are well and that we are healthy. And at worst, we're just maybe not quite perfect. You guys have probably been in conversations with other people, and maybe this is a view that they hold to, it's not correct, but they would admit that they're not perfect, that there is flaw, but they're really not that bad of a person. I know I'm not perfect, I do make mistakes, but I'm really not that bad. Maybe when we look at this view as from a whole, from all of humanity, there's been wars and starvation and disease and hardships. Maybe man's nature is only slightly flawed. But the issue is if there's been these things in the past, you would think that over time, that these slight falls would improve themselves, would get better. There would be less war and less starvation and less diseases, but that's not the case. Maybe even so with an individual. Maybe in just being slightly flawed that over time that I can improve myself, better my condition, better who I am. There are a number of people in this world that believe that. I, about a year ago, was sitting at Barnes & Noble doing some schoolwork, and I didn't know that I had sat right next to the self-help books, right next to them. And all of a sudden, I was like, man, why are there so many people coming to this section? I mean, it's like eight o'clock at night, there's very few people there, but it's like everybody that's coming in is going to this section. 10 ways to improve yourself. Three ways, three surefire ways of becoming a better person. There's a number of books and articles and things out there of how we can be a better, more well-rounded person. but it's very clear that things are way more serious than this well view suggests. Or maybe there are people who hold to the second view that man is just merely sick. There's something wrong with humans, but the situation is not hopeless. There's this glimmer of hope in the fact that we're alive. That means there is hope. There's no need to call the mortician, that I can fix myself. Maybe it's similar to the self-help section as before, of I'm going to find ways of making myself better, then I'm going to work through my problems and fix my standing before God. I think it's Jonathan Edwards that said this, he goes, man's good works can save them from hell as much as a spider web can stop a rock. It's fragile, right? It has nothing to it. I would even make it even more bold in the fact of our good works can save us from hell as much as a spider web can stop a rocket or a boulder. There is no chance. There is no chance at all that it's not possible. And then the last view is that man is dead. that we're dead in our trespasses and sins. This is the view that we hold to, the one that I hold to. We see in Ephesians 2 of this, in verses one through three, where it says, you were dead in the trespasses and sin in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air and the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. among whom we all once lived in passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and by nature, children of wrath, like the rest of mankind." Or maybe Romans 3, verses 10 through 12, as it says, no one is righteous. No, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good. No, not one. Or maybe Romans 3, 23, where it says, For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Or Colossians 1, verse 13, where at the beginning it says, He delivered us from the dominion of darkness. If we had to be delivered from the dominion of darkness, that means at one point we were there. We were in the dominion of darkness. And so when we look at our relationship with God, that we are dead in our sin. God had warned Adam and Eve of this before the fall, of what would be the consequence of eating from the tree. And so what becomes very clear when we're looking at scripture in terms of relation to our sin is that we're unable to make a single move towards God. I've used this reference before, but I think it's the best example is Jeremy Bentham. Jeremy Bentham was a philosopher in UK. And when he died, he put in his will that his body would be preserved. Actually, it was just his head, which is somehow even more disturbing. And they put him in this glass case. this glass box, and it made it look like his whole body is in there. He's clothed, put it on wheels, and in his wheel, he said that he had to be present at all the, I think it was at Oxford, to be present at all the board meetings. It's just so ridiculous to think so highly of yourself to where even after I'm dead, I'm gonna attend every meeting. But no matter how many times that he's wheeled into this board meeting, there's never a point where he raises his hand and says, ha, I vote for that, because he's dead. He can't do anything. There are pictures of Jeremy Bentham in that box. They're disturbing, just a heads up. But that we're dead in our sin, there is nothing that we can do. That'd be quite the board meeting if at some point that hand rose. I don't think they'd be worried about the vote anymore. We're unable to make a single move. Jonathan Edwards says it like this, he says, the problem is not with the will itself, since the will is simply the mind choosing what the mind deems best. The problem was with man's moral nature, which is opposed to God and with sinful motives that flow from the corrupt nature. The will is always free. We always choose what we judge best in a given situation. But listen to this, it says, but as sinners, we always judge wrongly. We think God as being undesirable. We resist him and reject the gospel. See, being dead in our trespasses and our sin doesn't mean that we're merely in the danger of death. That we are dead, that all of humanity, all those that are apart from Christ. As Jonathan Edwards has said, that knowing that we were dead in our sin, that we actively walk in sin. That the sinner is dead towards God, but alive in all wickedness. that although they are spiritually dead, the sinner follows the way of the world and spends their time satisfying the cravings of his sinful nature. Maybe another way of thinking of this is looking at zombies. thinking of zombies that are in horror stories. Zombies are quite popular now. I would say a number of y'all are watching actively right now of a show that has zombies or maybe some brain-eating virus that's controlling the mind and the body. For those that don't know what a zombie is, it's a person who's dead, but they're still walking around. That's a very short explanation of a zombie, but that's what it is. And to make it even more gross is not only are they dead and walking around, but the body is decaying, actively decaying. See, this is the human condition before God. Their center, the center, and their opposition to God are like walking corpses. They are the living and the walking dead. seeking the desires of the flesh and not the desires of the Lord. John Gerstner says it like this, he says, they are an offense to God's nostrils. These decaying spiritual corpses stink. That's us, apart from Christ, that is us. Soul has no life, that we're blind to the reality and the demands and the glory of Christ, that we do not love them or do not love him, that we are deaf to the Holy Spirit. But what we know is that God has made us to love and to enjoy and to serve him with everything that we are. Yet sin is a rebellion against this life-giving relationship, a matter of rejecting or ignoring God, a matter of disobeying His commands, that we fail to glorify Him fully. So that's the first principle, is that we are way more sinful than what we think we are. The second is that God is more holy than we think. Not only are we more sinful than what we think, but God is more holy than what we think. One way we see his holiness and his greatness is in the fact that he is the creator and sustainer of all things. Colossians 1, 16 through 17 says, for by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him, in him alone, all things hold together. I don't know about y'all, but that's not me at all. I don't hold things together. I seem to do the opposite of that. Things seem to break, fall apart when I touch them. But the Lord is unique. absolutely unique because He alone is infinite and unchanging and eternal. That He can't be charged with any wrong and that He will preserve the holiness of His great name. And so that's another way we see that God is holy is by preserving of His great name. Ezekiel 36, 22 and 23 says, therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God, it is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God. when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. See, every sin that's ever been committed will be punished by God. Either we will pay for the punishment of our sin, in God's wrath or Christ has paid for our sins. That God must punish sin. John Piper says, if we don't feel a sense of awe and fear and admiration for the infinite holiness of God, which opposes evil with wrath and fury, then all of our other feelings and thoughts will be defective at best. If we don't see God's holiness, then all those other feelings and thoughts will be defective at best. If we don't see God for who God is, it doesn't matter what else we think, because it doesn't mean anything. And we also see God's holiness in the fact that he loved us when we were dead in our sin. Not when we showed potential, not when we showed remorse. It's not a matter of a redo, that we've been brought back to life thinking of playing Mario as a kid. It's not a matter that we're given another opportunity to try to jump around and get to the end of the level. That's not what it is. That he loved us when we were dead in our sin. See, the gospel is glorious when both of these things are true. When we see how sinful we are and we see how holy God is, that by lowering either one of them only diminishes the finished work of Christ. Tim Keller said it this way. He said, the gospel says you are simultaneously more sinful and flawed than you ever dared believe, yet more loved and accepted than you ever dared hope. How true is that for us? See, the gospel dismantles before it delights. It criticizes us before we cherish it. And the greatness of the gospel is that it shows our utter desperation for it. See, the only thing that we bring to the table in terms of our salvation is our need, that we need to be saved, that's it. We bring nothing else. So then that leads to our second point. We see our need for the blood of Jesus. But we see the superiority of the blood of Christ. We look back in verses 18 to 22 of Hebrews 9 here. It talks about the old sacrificial system of what used to happen. He was focused still on the need for blood. There was a lot of blood that was shed. I was reading something, it was just millions of sacrifices that were given to cover the blood or the sins of the people of Israel. The blood of Old Testament sacrifices was sprinkled everywhere as a reminder at the cost of sin. Just crazy to think at the same time of a matter of being clean had to be a quite, A messy situation. The blood of all these animals being shed. And the author here in Hebrews is going from the lesser to the greater. As he's talking about the sacrificial system, that he's going from the earthly to the heavenly. So when we look at the earthly, they were the blood of the goats and the bulls that were sprinkled on the ceremonial unclean. These sacrifices did not fully cleanse the inner person, That they were about cleansing the flesh or the body of those that were unclean. That they removed the ceremonial uncleanliness. And so why is the blood of Jesus superior? Some of these things are things that we looked at in chapter eight last week, but one is that it's presented in the heavenly places. That it was sprinkled in the real holy of holies. We're reminded again in this passage that the tabernacle was just a picture of God's dwelling place in heaven. A shadow of something to come. And Jesus' death and his blood on the cross was presented in the very presence of God. But it's also superior because it was a perfect sacrifice. That not only was it presented in the heavenly places, but it's a perfect sacrifice. See, the Levitical priests had to first offer a bowl for themselves and then to make themselves clean so that way they could go in and make a sacrifice for the people. Whereas Christ has offered himself without blemish, the pure and spotless lamb, that he lived a life that was perfect, that was sinless. and that he's offered himself for sacrifice, that he was both man and God, that it was by his blood that he has purchased and provided redemption for mankind. And then the last way that we see that it's superior is that it is fully sufficient. See, the Levitical priests, as we talked about last week, had to offer sacrifices annually, constantly, The work was never done. We thought of it as a treadmill of running and running and doing and doing and never getting finished. The work was never fully sufficient. But Christ had no sin. There was no need for another sacrifice. And the work is finished. See, the blood of Christ was sufficient for all those that put their faith in the work of Christ. Because the work is done, it is finished. And then that leads to our last point. The work and purpose of the blood of Jesus. See, the blood of Jesus changes everything. The blood of Jesus changes everything. Past, present, future, in our lives, the blood of Christ changes everything. We look at our past, we've already kind of talked about this already, and of the forgiveness of sins. The price has been paid. The debt has been paid. We have been redeemed. The work is finished. But what about the present? How does the blood of Jesus change the moment that we're in right now? Well, through the blood of Christ, that we are able to live a life for the Lord. Think back on the Old Testament priests, they had to constantly offer these sacrifices. It wasn't a matter of an inward change, but a ceremonial uncleanliness. But because of the blood of Christ, that we are now able to live a life for the Lord. A matter of serving Him. See, Christ's sacrifice changes us inwardly towards this new obedience. That we're not saved by good works, but we are saved for good works. To bring God glory and honor. So what are some ways that we can do that? How do we live a life of obedience? How do we bring God glory and honor? I think there's three different parts of our lives that we can see that. One is with our resources. One is with our resources and the things that God has provided us with. How are we using those things for the kingdom of God? But maybe a deeper question is do we trust that the Lord will provide our needs? The New Testament calls for us to give of our whole heart, to give of everything. Do we provide, do we trust that the Lord will provide our needs? That we're willing to give, knowing that the Lord is in control? How are we using the things that God has given us for his kingdom? How are we using these things to bring God glory and honor? These things that the Lord has given us. Maybe another area we can see of a way to bring God glory and honor is with our time. It becomes very easy to let time kind of whittle away. I'm accustomed to doing that. You just need some time to do nothing and all of a sudden it's five hours later and you're like, what has happened? How do our Sundays look different than the rest of the week? How much of our daily lives are spent in worship to the Lord? How much time of our lives is spent reading God's word and spending time in prayer? That if the blood of Christ has changed us towards this new obedience, there should be this desire in us to want to read God's word, to want to spend time in prayer with Him. Maybe the last way that we can live a life of obedience and bringing God glory and honor is through ourselves. Romans 12 verse one says, I appeal to you therefore brothers, by the mercy of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Early in Romans chapter six, it says, let not therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to be sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under the law, but under grace. What does it mean to use your members to God as instruments for righteousness? as a matter of obedience to the Lord. Maybe the best way of doing this is thinking of our minds first. That proper use of our minds is necessary for growth in all areas of Christian experience. That we should be renewed by God, that we should be meditating on His word. Meditating on his word does not mean sitting in a room necessarily and just reading and reading and reading. That we would know God's word so well that whenever we're presented in certain situations that we can reflect back and think on the word of God. Or maybe with our tongues, how much of our speech is used to bring honor and glory to God and to share the gospel. Or maybe that sometimes our tongues are used for instruments of unrighteousness rather than bringing God glory and honor. Or maybe our hands and feet, how are we using the gifts and abilities that God has given us for his kingdom? Matter of serving the Lord. All of us in here have been given different gifts, different strengths. How are we using them to glorify God and to serve him? and be so bold to say that if we give of ourselves, that we'll often be overwhelmed with how God will use us for his kingdom. Not because there's any glory and honor that's given to ourselves, but for his glory and honor. So we've seen the past and we've seen the present, but what about the future? What is the purpose of the blood of Christ in our future? See, the redemption of Christ is permanent because it was by His blood that we're set free, that we're spending eternity with Christ. The author here talks about our inheritance there in verse 15. It says, we receive the promise inheritance. Our inheritance is the glory of God Himself. We see that in Psalm 73 where it says, my flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. He is my portion forever. This is my inheritance. Not the riches of this world, not the success and not the approval of others, but that Christ is my portion forever. Maybe another way that we see of this is looking at the Levites. See, the Levites, whenever they come into the promised land, they're spread out. They're separated out. They didn't get any of the land, but they were scattered throughout the 48 different towns. In Joshua 13, 33, it says that the tribe of Levi, Moses gave no inheritance. The Lord God of Israel is their inheritance, just as he is to them. See, scattering the Levites was a reminder of just that. The blessing was not the land itself. The thing that they had been waiting on for years, that that was not the blessing itself, that it's God. that's the enjoyment of God himself, that he is our inheritance, and because of that, that we can be assured of salvation, since nothing move or changes God. Lamentations 3 says, the Lord is my portion, says my soul. Therefore, I will hope in him. We're gonna sing a song here in a moment. Nothing but the blood. Nothing but the blood. One of the last verses says, this is all my hope and peace, that nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. See, the blood of Jesus is what changes everything. It's where our hope is found, it's where we find our peace, it's what we place our rest in, it's what brings us the most joy, it's what we should rejoice in, it's what gives us our strength. That alone is our blessing. Not the riches of this world, not the success, not the approval of man. Maybe we should think on what lens are we looking at the world through? Are we looking at the world through a lens of success? Because if we are, we're just going to be disappointed when things don't work out the way we want them to. Are we looking through the lens of approval of others? Because if we are, we will be disappointed Are we looking through whatever lens it may be that we will be disappointed? That all those things waver, all of those things change, all of these things ultimately don't matter. But when we look at the world through the lens of Christ, then everything changes. See, the blood of Jesus changes everything. So let's turn to our great eternal inheritance, who is God himself. And if we think of it anything less than that, then it only diminishes the sovereignty and the sufficiency of our Lord. He is our inheritance. Why would we want anything more than that? So let us rejoice in the Lord, that it's through the blood of Jesus that we are redeemed, that we are set free, that we're able to live a life for him. So let us rejoice in our great inheritance. Let me pray for us. Heavenly Father, Lord, we are thankful for this morning, a service that's full of so many opportunities to see of your love and of your grace. Lord, I pray that you work in our hearts, that even as Christians, even as believers, that our hearts are prone to wander, to turn to other things. that our hope and our peace and our rest and our strength and our joy are only found in you. That it's the blood of Jesus that changes everything. I pray that you open our eyes, open our hearts to that truth, that we are sinners desperately in need of you, that you've sent your son to come and die for our sins, that there is hope, not because of my ability in my works, but because of the finished work of Christ. In your name I pray, amen. Church family, let's stand together and respond.