Help Through His Blood

-Introduction

-story of Sam - responded to domestic dispute call - found a very unpleasant and very

  sad scene - 30 year old woman laying in the kitchen floor - victim of a stabbing - The

  scene clearly revealed that it had been a very violent scene. - She was still alive and

  kept saying to Sam, “I’m going to die, aren’t I?”

     -Sam responded in about the only way he could:  “Don’t worry.  You’re going to be

       ok.  We’ve got help on the way.”

     -Help did arrive.  But, there was little they could do and she died shortly thereafter.

     -Afterwards, Sam felt bad because he felt that he failed to deliver on the words he

       said to her.  Obviously though, it was out of his control.  Yet, not being able to

       help was very, very frustrating.

-Isn’t it terribly frustrating to want to help somebody but be unable to do so.  Perhaps you

  don’t know what to do.  Perhaps the situation simply goes beyond your abilities.  Or,

  perhaps the person you are trying to help won’t accept your help.

     -This goes back to Royce’s comments this past Wednesday.  We need to be willing

       to offer help and we need to be willing to accept help.

            -Gal 6:2

            -Sometimes we’re the person who can help bear a burden.  At other times, we’re

              the person who has a burden that we need some help with.

-We All Need Help

-We all need some help somewhere along the way.

     -If we’re not careful, we’ll allow pride to stand in the way of that help.

-Our ultimate need is in regards to our spiritual wellbeing - the forgiveness of sins.

     -Rom 3:9-10, 20-26, Rom 6:23

     -We need to realize this great need.  Then, we need to be willing to seek and accept

       help with it.

            -That help is available in Jesus and in Jesus only - Acts 4:8-12

-Notice Rom 3:25 - “a propitiation through faith in his blood”

     -Blood - That’s not a topic that we usually like to talk about.

     -The scene that Amy’s dad saw was a very unpleasant one.

     -example of the young news reporter in Joplin sent to the scene of a murder

-Consider what Heb 9:22 tells us - “...and without shedding of blood is no remission”

-The Day of Atonement

-Hebrews 9 would be a perfect passage to consider within our context this morning. 

  However, Lord willing, that chapter will be the topic of our Wednesday evening

  auditorium Bible class in just a couple of weeks.  So, I’ll just briefly touch upon it.

-Heb 9 - a contrast between the imperfect, temporary sacrifices under the Law and the

               perfect, eternal sacrifice of Jesus

-In either case, blood was involved in the process.

-The Day of Atonement - Lev 16

     -the only day the high priest would enter into the Holy of Holies

     -The high priest needed to first make a sacrifice for himself due to his own sin.

            -Heb 9:6,11

     -He would then make a sacrifice for the people for their sins.

     -When you read about the processes involved, you find that blood was an integral part.

            -This would not have been a pleasant scene.

     -Also, consider the two kids of goats involved - Lev 16:20-22.

            -One would serve as a sacrifice, the other would be the scapegoat.

            -The high priest would lay his hands on the scapegoat, confess the sins of the

              people and have the scapegoat carried off into the wilderness.

                   -In a symbolic fashion, the goat would carry away the sins of Israel.

-Now, these processes accomplished their intended purposes.  They were effective - that’s

  because God looked forward through the centuries to the sacrifice of Jesus.

-Yet, think about the people under the Law.  Their hope rested in the blood of animals and

  a goat carried off into the wilderness.  To me, that would not afford a great deal of

  comfort.

     -That’s the point of the Hebrew writer in Hebrews 9.

-Heb 10:1

-Blood of Jesus

-Heb 9:11-12

-Matt 26:26-28, Col 1:14, Rom 5:9, 1 Pet 1:18-19, Rev 1:5

     -Let’s continually remind ourselves that the scene of the cross was extremely

 unpleasant.  It was gruesome.  It was an atrocious act - but by the will of God.

      -Acts 2:22-23

-Our hope rests - not in a high priest that first needed to make a sacrifice for himself - but

  in the High Priest who had no need of a sacrifice because He was perfect.

-Our hope doesn’t rest in the blood of animals over which we have dominion.  Our hope

  rests in the blood of our Lord and Saviour in whose dominion we dwell.

-Our hope doesn’t rest in the idea of our sins being carried away by a goat.  Instead, our

  sins are carried away by the Lamb of God.

     -2 cor 5:21

-All of this has been made possible to us by the blood of Jesus.

-Invitation

-Amy’s dad was there in the midst of the blood of a woman in dire need of help, but the

  help she needed was beyond his abilities.

-The priest would be covered in the blood of an animal that couldn’t, of itself, take away

  sin.

-Yet, Jesus offers us the help we need and that help doesn’t require our blood but His.

     -His blood will cleanse us spiritually and wash away the stains of sin.

     -Therefore, we can stand before Him (2 Cor 5:10) as cleansed, pure and acceptable.

-What about your soul?  Is it washed in the blood of Jesus?  If not, obey the Gospel:

     -believe (John 3:16, 8:24), confess (Matt 10:32, Rom 10:9-10), repent (Luke 13:3,5;

  Acts 17:30), be baptized (Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16)

-If you’ve obeyed the Gospel but haven’t been faithful, you still need the cleansing blood

  of Jesus - confess your faults, repent and pray for God’s forgiveness (1 John 1:7-9,

  Acts 8:22-24).