The Sufficiency of the Blood of Christ
Hebrew 9:11-28
Harry Stoliker
February 7, 2010 EBC
Listen
I had a conversation recently with a close friend that I could have
had with many of you. What we talked about is so common and so important
that few if any of us here today who are true Christian will not be able to identify
clearly with. As we talked, it seemed to me that that the cause of my
friend's anxiety over his sin was that he had an insufficient view
of the sufficiency of the blood of Christ sacrificed on his behalf.
So often, we just somehow, very subtly don't think that the blood
of Jesus shed on the Cross was completely powerful enough to be
all that was needed to atone for all our sin. The total
sufficiency of the blood of Christ to atone for all our sins is
a truth that our flesh doesn't like to embrace.
Now, theologically speaking, we would say that we definitely believe
in the power of the blood of Christ to atone for our sin. But why
then do we so frequently act as though there was some sort of deficiency
that we need to make up for? I want to show you how a person acts
who doesn't believe in the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice, but
first let's look at what the Bible says about this.
Turn first to 1 John 1:6-7 "If we say we have fellowship with him while
we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the
light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the
blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." This is a rock bottom,
unambiguous statement of the sufficiency of the cleansing power
of the blood of Jesus! It is an exhaustive statement! Not an exhausting
statement but an all-comprehensive statement. "Cleanses us from
ALL sin." There is no sin that isn't cleansed; there is
no sin that remains after having been cleansed; there is no sin that
can resist the cleansing power of the blood. It is the blood of
Jesus alone that can do this level of complete cleansing.
It is the blood of JESUS and not any other blood, animal or human,
that does this complete cleansing. This is what we must believe at
the deepest level of our hearts and consciences.
Back in 1618 in the Netherlands there was a controversy
in the Christian church. A synod or council was called in the city
of Dordrecht to settle some very serious questions about the work
of Christ. The decisions that were made were called "Canons"-
The Canons of Dort. A canon is a judgment or established standard
or criterion for truth. Here's what was said about the
work of Jesus on the Cross: "This death of God's Son is the only and entirely
complete sacrifice and satisfaction for sins; it is of infinite value
and worth, more than sufficient to atone for the sins of the whole
world." This is so powerfully worded! Notice the "exhaustive words"
– words that leave NO ROOM for any human effort to slip in: "ONLY,
ENTIRELY, COMPLETE, MORE THAN SUFFICIENT." Notice also the key word:
"satisfaction." God the Father was satisfied completely
with the blood of Christ as the entirely sufficient payment for the
sins of his people.
Author/pastor Jim Elliff: "The blood of Jesus unfailingly cleanses
the believer from his sin at all times. There could be no sin that
the blood does not cover, confessed or not confessed. Though our sins
were taken care of in the cross of Christ, and by His blood being spilled for us,
it is applied immediately in time to every sin we commit the nano-second
we commit it."
OK, back to the Scriptures: Turn to Ephesians 1:7 "In him we
have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according
to the riches of his grace." First notice the word "redemption."
This word means to be bought or ransomed. A price had to be paid;
the price had to be complete; the payment had to be completely sufficient.
The ransom or release wouldn't have been made if the payment hadn't been sufficient.
How did the redemption become effective? "Through his blood." That is the
ONLY means of making the redemption happen. Then he says, "the forgiveness
of our trespasses" – as a definition of what redemption
means. So, redemption/forgiveness is accomplished/effected/brought
to reality, by the blood. It has that much power.
When we think about how many sins all the people of God ever committed
over the centuries, we can begin just a little to appreciate
the power of the blood of Jesus. Billions and billions of sins had
to be completed cleansed and washed away. Perhaps a few of them
didn't get cleanses as white as snow? Perhaps some went from crimson red
to only pink and not white? Maybe we need to get them from pink to white?
Turn to Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though
your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red
like crimson, they shall become like wool." Also: Psalms 51:2,7 "Wash
me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! Purge
me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than
snow."Revelation 7:14 "I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said
to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed
their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
C.H. Spurgeon: "See how red is your guilt, mark the scarlet stain. If you
were to wash your soul in the Atlantic Ocean, and turn every wave that washes all
its shores into a blood-red color, yet the crimson spots of your transgression would
still remain. But plunge into the "fountain filled with blood, drawn
from Immanuel's veins," and in an instant you are whiter than
snow. Every speck, spot, and stain of sin is gone, and gone forever."
God said in Psalms 103:12 "…as far as the east is from the west, so far does
he remove our transgressions from us." On planet earth you can travel east
forever and you won't reach the west because you can still
go east! They never meet. It's that far that our sins have been
effectively removed.
I'll have you turn to one more passage before the application. Turn to Hebrews 9:11-14
V.11 is talking about the incarnation and the ascension of
Jesus. He came as the High Priest. The High Priest offered sacrifices
to atone for the sins of the people of God. The human high priests
went repeatedly into the tabernacle or temple to do their work of
blood-offering. They only had animal blood to work with.
Jesus, after his resurrection, ascended to heaven as our eternal High Priest.
V.12 Jesus entered the heavenly temple with His own blood…once
for all, in contrast to the endless times
the human high priests entered with animal blood. This is an unspeakably
enormous contrast that we can't miss. The "once for all"
is directly pointing to the effectiveness of the blood
of Christ in contrast to the ineffectiveness of the blood of animal
sacrifices. Christ's sacrifice didn't have to be repeated because
of the very nature of the blood of Christ. Then the verse continues
by describing what the blood of Jesus did: "having obtained eternal redemption!"
ESV: "securing eternal redemption." This is a finished action!
Nothing is to be added to accomplish eternal redemption.
It is "obtained" by the blood. Delivered by the Spirit;
Acceptable to the Father! How dare we act as though
it is not enough! How dare we live as though the Father is not pleased
with the blood of His Son!
Jerry Bridges said it well: "Our sins have been put away. To use the language
of the Scriptures…they are completely removed, put behind God's
back, blotted out, remembered no more, and
hurled into the depths of the sea." Bridges is quoting a ½ doz.
precious passages:
Hebrews 9:25-26 "Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest
enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 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.
Isaiah 38:17 "Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness;
but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have
cast all my sins behind your back.
Isaiah 44:22 "I have blotted out your transgressions like a
cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you."
Isaiah 43:25 "I, I am he who blots out your transgressions
for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins."
Micah 7:19 "He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities
under foot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea."
Jeremiah 31:34 "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their
sin no more."
The Blood of Christ paid for all my sin!! Do you believe this? Really?
Down deep in your heart? If you do it will show in your life.
There are many tell tale signs as to whether or you believe this truth.
It will be fairly easy to determine whether or not you have a deep
and settled confidence in the power of the blood of Christ to atone
for all your sin.
What might it look like if you didn't have a strong, confident belief
in the total effectiveness of the blood of Jesus alone to remove
ALL your sin? Let's briefly discuss a list of telltale
signs.
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Do you have a sort of low grade guilt that never seems to get
erased from our conscience? This is an uneasy feeling
that for some reason God hasn't entirely forgiven you and you have
to somehow work to please this unrelenting God. This
can be cured by a complete trust in the blood of Jesus. Hebrews 9:14 "…how
much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself
without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living
God."
-
Do you ever really and deeply rejoice over the love of God upon
our life, or do you always have this feeling that His love will
be taken away or that His love for you is not as great as it could be
due to your remaining sin? God wants us to rejoice in His love for us! C.H. Spurgeon:
"I thought I could have leaped from earth to heaven with one spring when
I first saw my sins drowned in the Redeemer's blood."
-
Do you have a sort of free spirited joy over our hope of heaven?
Do you ever find yourself just daydreaming about the joys of heaven?
Are you deeply longing for the second coming of Jesus?
If not, it may be because there is still some secret dread in your heart of your
own acceptability to God.
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Do you have a difficult time forgiving, accepting and not judging
other people? If we have no concept of what it means to be fully
free from our sin because of the blood, then we won't be fully free to
love others in Christ.
-
What are your motives for serving in the church and serving other
people? They will be more works oriented and polluted by this nagging
sense of having to add something to the work of Christ if you don't
fully trust the power of His blood.
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We will be less eager to tell other people about the gospel if
we don't believe the power of His blood, because we won't want to put anyone else
on the same works treadmill that we are on. Unbelief decreases our zeal
in evangelism.
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When we believe the sufficiency of Christ's blood we have the
courage to offer people hope who are in the deepest, darkest sinful situations.
We don't despair of anyone receiving God's grace and
forgiveness. We have the utmost confidence that God can forgive the
vilest of men.
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Belief in the power of the Blood will give us calmness at the point of death.
A friend of mine who saw his Christian father tortured by
doubt and fear of losing his salvation when he was dying of cancer said
to me: "Harry, get your theology right now or it will rise up and bite you at the
end!"
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Confidence in the blood of Christ will motivate us to repent more
rapidly because we know it is the one source of complete forgiveness.
Without this assurance, we won't repent rapidly, but we will sink into a
system of works-righteousness that will grieve the heart of God.
By the work of the Holy Spirit in my heart, convincing me of the
sufficiency of the blood of Jesus Christ I can now: rest
in my soul– love God deeply – love people freely –
give myself and my resources to the Kingdom – serve God willingly
with a clear conscience – witness to people as though
I have something to tell them – sleep peacefully – long for the
future when I will see Christ – not be tormented by the past
in any way – not be afraid to draw near to God – worship
God with zeal and sincerity. Where is your heart my Christian brother?
This table is only for true Christians… I invite those of you who are not
trusting the blood of Jesus as your only way to be forgiven and acceptable
to God to repent of your sin and believe all that you have heard today
and be saved from judgment when you die. For us who are true believers,
examine your hearts to see if you have a settled and deep confidence
in the blood of our Lord Jesus.
Let's pray.