Let's go ahead and pray first. Lord, I do thank you for your grace and goodness, full of thankfulness in our hearts for all that you do for us. Gratitude and appreciation, Lord, for how you did give us the sun rising again this morning and did bring us here safely in our vehicles. Providentially guide us away from any major calamities that I'm aware of or any difficult illness that couldn't be fixed with an allergy medicine or a Tylenol. Lord, we do thank you for your many kindnesses towards us. But especially Lord, we thank you now for this time of worship, to sing praises, to lift our voices to you and worship of you as such an honor. We once walked in darkness and worshiping ourselves and our pleasures and our own desires, Lord, and you've given us this opportunity to worship someone who's truly worthy of that worship, Lord, for you are worthy of all glory, honor, and praise. Lord, we're not worthy of any of this. We're not worthy to come before you. Lord, we're so weak and worthless, Lord, outside of you. But we thank you that that you did see fit to love even creatures like us, despite our wretched sinfulness, and did bring us here as a community of believers, as a body of believers, Lord, a body meant to represent you, Lord. So help us in this time. Lord, help me as I speak. Lord, give me the words to speak to this people. Help all the children. calm them and quiet them, Lord, and help the older children to listen even to these words, even if some of them are not immediately known by them. And Lord, I do ask that you would, if any words are spoken here today by my mouth that don't honor you or are not good for your people, Lord, that you would strike it from their memory and that they would not recall it. Or even better, Lord, that it would be used as an opportunity for them to grow and to cling to your word ever closer and not to the words of a mere man. Lord, would you help us in this time to see Christ as we come to your word? Would you give us a glimpse of him, of his value, of his worth? Lord, would you give us hope today, we ask. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. So if you'd turn with me to Hebrews chapter 12, to grab a verse there. Hebrews chapter 12. For context, I'm going to back up to verse 22, although that's not the full context. We're going to grab that just for the sake of the sentence. I do not like starting in the middle of a sentence. It says, but you have come to Mount Zion. This is Hebrews 12, verse 22. You've come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. And I come here because more than a year ago, I was in this very same chapter in Hebrews together here, and many, including myself, wouldn't remember much of it. But one thing I do recall is that as we broke down verses 18 through 24, I walked away with the impression that verse 24, although each of the verses could probably be touched on individually, verse 24 especially needed more attention. And it just couldn't get it in the context of an hour or hour and 15 minutes. I won't go that long. But especially in the context of covering all of these various points found in verses 18 through 24, I figured we needed more time to look at specifically verse 24. And so I personally dug into it and was blessed and hoped that it would be a blessing for you as well. We see in verse 24 that, to shorten the sentence, you have come To Jesus, verse 24, you have come to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. And it's the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel that I want to focus this on. There's two possible meanings. to this phrase, specifically around the blood of Abel. Okay, two, because, and really, I'd only thought of one, but commentators drew my attention more broadly to the fact that this could be either the blood of Abel being the blood of the sacrifices that Abel sacrificed, or the blood of Abel, which maybe you were possibly thinking, the blood of Abel himself, because we know what happened to Abel, do we not? And really, I think you could take either approach and come to the same conclusion of what the authorial intent was of bringing up this blood of Abel. And so let me just break that down here. First with Abel and the sacrifices he made. Abel and the sacrifices he made. In order to do that, we need to go and consider the very first sacrifice. Does anyone know where the very first sacrifice is found? Genesis, good. Genesis 3, now we're getting warmer. Verse 21, thank you. So the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. Yeah, here it's a bit veiled, but we see, I believe, and I'm convinced, the first picture of sacrifice, intentional sacrifice being instituted by God for Adam and Eve. Here was their sin, and now they needed some type of covering because of the nakedness that was exposed due to their fall, and God provides it. unilaterally provides it for Adam and Eve, giving them a covering, and in turn, in shedding the blood of the beast, provides skin and clothing for them. But you see it more specifically with Abel, do you not? Now, Adam knew his wife in chapter 4, Genesis, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord. And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now, Abel was a keeper of sheep and Cain a worker of the ground. In the course of time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground. And Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord has had regard for Abel and his offering. You see Abel's offering there at the very beginning. And you see this theme of offerings being continued all throughout the Old Testament, do we not? Let's just kind of track through it here real quick. Coming off of Abel, you then get over to Genesis 15, and you find Abraham walking through, Abram, Abraham, walking through carcasses that were split in half. An ancient Near East way of establishing a covenant. These animals would be split, and the idea was that if you broke that covenant, then what happened to those animals would happen to you. The thing is, Abraham was fast asleep. during that time, and so God himself establishes covenant unilaterally with Abraham, but with the animals. Now, see, I don't want this to be lost on us. When we talk about it, we have no immediate recollection of what this sacrifice was like. Even just think about Abraham in this ancient Near East practice. Here were these dead animals, and you had to walk between them. I don't know about you, but the closest I've been to dead animals in the near recent past here has been driving down I-35, and there's some dead animals on the side of the road. So personally, I don't have any experience with dead animals. Maybe some of you do more closely. Maybe you farm, or you've been to a butcher, and you've seen this. our senses walk away with. When you talk about these dead animals who, remember in the scripture, Abraham was trying to keep the vultures away from. Our senses hit us with smells, right? With sights, right? And at the time of the killing, with sounds, right? We're hit with senses that this is This is affecting us. We ought not be able to kill an animal without thinking, man, there's life there. And so these sacrifices were intended to be pictures to us, pictures, that we might walk away going, wow, God is trying to communicate something serious about his worship and about sin. ultimately speaking of the need of a savior. Now we see that most clearly then as we kind of go through, right, Abraham, and then we get to the Passover lamb, or what's been often referenced the Paschal lamb, right? I like that kind of Puritan language, the Paschal lamb. And with that, you see God giving to the Jewish people direction to take a lamb, to take a firstborn lamb without spot or blemish and to kill it. and to kill it and put the blood on the, children, where do you put the blood? On the doorpost, right? On both sides of the door and up on the top, the lintel. So this blood is visible with this branch of, like a hyssop branch, like a kind of a weed type of thing with some, you know, flowers on the end sometimes, but they would take it and they'd dip it in and they'd use it as a brush and they'd do the tops and the side, the top and the sides. And this was all a picture of their need for a savior. Remember, what was on the other side of that door for the Jewish people? Death, the destroyer. Right. And what it ought to communicate to them, what I believe it communicates to them and what it communicates to us, is that those Jewish people that were in that house, they were no better than all the Egyptians. They couldn't stand against the destroyer either. They couldn't face him. If that blood wasn't on those doorposts, on that lintel, then they would certainly most absolutely perish just the same. If they were not found in that house with that blood, they too would have died, the oldest, would have been destroyed, just as it accounts happened to all of Egypt in Exodus 12. And so these sacrifices, slowly but surely, as God further revealed himself and his purposes throughout time, more and more communicated the fact that we need a Savior. That's all you walk away with and you're doing good. We need a Savior. In Exodus 12 in particular, really, I can't pass this up because I thought it was interesting. It's one of those little nuggets you latch onto here and there when you're reading God's Word and you say, wow, that is really good. That is a really good reminder. In Exodus 12, 21, you see it happening. And then verse 29, at midnight, the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt. From the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the captive, who was in the dungeon. From the richest, most mighty of rulers, to the lowest of prisoners and poor, all men stand equally condemned. Isn't that what scripture teaches us? All men, no matter your station in life, no matter your economic status, or your lineage, or your success and accomplishments in life, you stand condemned before God in yourself without blood. And then you have the covenant with Israel in Exodus 24. Verses six through eight. Moses, he sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord and Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins. Half of the blood he threw against the altar. Now, I don't know about you, I get queasy around blood. And so trying to imagine, put yourself in the shoes of those around Moses as he's walking by carrying these bowls, basins of blood. It ought to affect us. We learn in Leviticus that the life is in the blood, right? And so there's something about that blood that says we need a sacrifice. We need a Savior. There's something that speaks of death. And that's really what, when we look at Hebrews and we talk about the blood, that was sprinkled, speaking better things than what the blood of Abel spoke." We have to go back and look at these Old Testament sacrifices and consider them. What were they saying? They were saying condemnation. They were saying judgment. They were saying you need a Savior. And that was the whole point of the covenant with Israel, the law, that was to point us to the fact that we need a Savior. If you think about it, even those who administered the law, they needed cleansing too. This is really amazing, and not just them, but the whole place around them too. Do you remember reading through Leviticus 16, Leviticus 15? All throughout there, or Leviticus 16, 11, 15, and 33, all throughout that you have the need to cleanse the priest himself by blood, the need to cleanse the holy place by blood, the need to cleanse the people for their sins by blood, and so blood everywhere. You walk into this area right here. Here's this courtyard. And there's this huge altar in the middle. There's blood and animal carcasses being carried back and live animals being hauled in. And then there's this tent. And you go in this tent. And over here is this bread. And over here is this candle. And here's this priest going in once a year and carrying blood, needing to purify all this with blood, blood, blood. Why all the blood? What is the blood saying to us? It's really, it's extremely gross to think about in my mind, but it's speaking to us the need of a sacrifice, the need of a sacrifice. Now, I know that Leviticus probably is the easiest book to read. You know, Galatians, you can get through easier. That's what I think Paul meant in Romans 15, four, where he says that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. You gotta have a little patience there working through some of that as well. But you walk away with an impression. You read through Leviticus, there's a lot of blood. There's a lot of blood. And in contrast to these sacrifices that were made year after year after year, that never took away the guilt of the people, here is Christ who entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. Title of this message is, What Does the Blood Speak? Or you could just say, the blood speaks, because that's shorter, easier to remember for me. The blood speaks. And then the question that stems from that, what does the blood speak? We read a verse here that says that, Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, we've come to Him, and we've come to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. So to understand what the better word is, I want us to understand what the word of Abel's blood was. Now, if you hold the position that it is the sacrifices of Abel, then walking through all the sacrifices of the Old Testament, you walk away with the conclusion that he was speaking of the need for a Savior. But if you hold to the position that it was Abel's blood, his actual blood, that is doing the speaking here, you come to the conclusion that he is speaking of the need of a Savior. You see, so ultimately when you boil it down, whether you take the path of saying, okay, this was talking about Abel's sacrifice that he presented to God and the blood of that animal, and then the sacrifices that followed, Abel being the first one that really did the sacrifices there. Or whether you say, no, it's Abel himself when Cain murdered him and the blood. And I personally hold to that just because of the Genesis account. And let's go there and we'll see specifically what the blood of Abel was speaking. Like I said, you come to the conclusion that it is our need of a savior, right? But let's see specifically what God says here. Remember in chapter four, where we were, that Abel offered Cain offered firstfruits from the ground. Abel brought a firstborn of the flock. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering. And perhaps we envision that being fire coming down, such as how God had regard to one of the prophets' sacrifices versus that of the false prophets. You may recall a specific prophet there. But here, It doesn't specifically say how God had regard for it, but just that he did. The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering. But for Cain and his offering, he had no regard. So Cain was very angry. His face fell. And the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry? And why is your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. It desires for you, but you must rule over it. Cain spoke to Abel, his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, where is Abel your brother? He said, I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper? And the Lord said, what have you done? I don't think the Lord is uncertain about what he's done. I think that question is intended to draw out and to magnify, draw out what Cain has done and to magnify his guilt before God. The voice, listen to this, and this is why I believe this passage is referencing our passage over in Hebrews 12, why it is referencing the blood of Abel specifically, because the voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. So, I mean, that's what I'm convinced of. Come to your own conclusion in your own study time. Nonetheless, we're going to see here how, Lord willing, how this position still brings us to the conclusion that we're in dire need, absolute desperate need, of a Savior. Because we are all like Cain without Christ. We are all like Cain. And this account in Genesis 4 tells us a few things. about ourselves, about Cain, first of all, but about ourselves because we are all like Cain. The first thing is that this blood that was spilled, this blood of Abel's, speaks out against false religion and hypocrisy. I want us to see that. I want us to see that very clearly because this is the kind of message I needed when I was going on in false religion and outward shows instead of just throwing myself upon the grace of God and the cross of Christ. And so here was a message saying, hypocrisy and false religion will be called out and will not be accepted by God. Do you see here that Cain was not a worker of the ground and just didn't show up to sacrifice time? Right? Cain was not just a worker of the ground who had no regard for God and was just working and took his Sundays off and stayed home watching football and whatnot. Cain was a man of religion. Cain brought forward probably a very nice showing of his groundwork, right? An offering of the fruit of the ground. He brought that forward to God. He brought something to God. He showed up on church. He goes to all the Bible studies and prayer meetings. He does his part. He reads his Bible every now and then. You see, Cain had a showing of religion, and he put himself out there as offering to God, and yet God had no regard for it. That immediately showing us that it was not the type of religion that God regards. It was the religion of sacrifice and offering, not the religion of a broken and contrite heart. It was the sacrifices and the offerings, not the obedience. that God would require, right? Thinking of David and of Saul there in two different places. It was the type of false religion that thought, I can get by, I can offer this to God. Yet God conceded the heart. And he saw how Abel was bringing it forward. And he says, Abel, excuse me, he says Cain, rather, was not doing well. Not doing well, because God said, if you do well, will you not be accepted? But he was not doing well. And the only context we have for him not doing well is that he brought forward the fruit of the ground and it seems to show a false religion. But I think we also know this because the New Testament always gives us light to the old, right? And the New Testament helps us understand what was going on in the old. And over in Matthew 23, verses 35 and 36, If you'll turn there, I just want us to see how closely tied the blood of Abel is with hypocritical, legalistic show of religion. Because I think you're familiar with the context of Matthew 23, are you not? Matthew 23 is where Christ himself pronounces what some say is seven woes to the scribes and the Pharisees for their, what? Hypocrisy. Absolutely. And Christ himself specifically calls out in verse 35. And I'll start in verse 34. Therefore, I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth. All the righteous blood shed on earth. Let's get some specifics. Of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. And I skipped it on purpose, because I'll go back here. And Abel, right? Abel. the righteous blood of Abel. So when Christ pronounces woes upon the hypocrites for their false religion and their external show, he references the righteous blood of Abel. And who shed the righteous blood of Abel? Cain. And so I suggest, for your consideration, that Cain falls in the category of hypocritical, legalistic worshiper. Luke 11.50 is a parallel reading of that same idea. Luke 11, 50 and 51. Where it says, so the blood of all the prophets shed from the foundation of the world may be charged against this generation from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. And you know the hypocrisy there in the context. That's the first point. It speaks of the need of a savior because it's speaking against hypocrisy of false religion. It's also speaking against all those who would deny wrongdoing before God. I was one of those. I mean, I had heard the message that Christ came because he loved so much. And my interpretation, as I've said many times, and I enjoy saying it because it's a great testimony of God's grace. Of course, I thought God loves me. Of course, God came to die for me. That makes perfect sense. And I followed that for years. And yet, then the Lord truly showed himself. I could not sit there. in the presence of the Lord as I read his word and deny my wrongdoing any longer. I could not sit there and continue to say I deserved it, that it was fair to give it to me, the grace of God or the love of God. No, but rather the opposite. I recognized how wicked and how wrong I was. But see, in Genesis chapter four, remember it was Cain who says, when God asks him, where is Abel your brother? He says, I do not know. I do not know. No, I'm good. I deny wrongdoing. I don't know anything like that. I'm not rebelling against God. I'm a good person. You see, the blood of Abel speaks out against all those who would deny wrongdoing and says to them, they need a savior. All those who would claim to be good, who would forget or deny what Romans chapter three has to say about the condition of man. I won't read it all, but how about this specific part? Their feet are swift to shed blood. And their paths are ruined in misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable. And so what does this blood of Abel say? It says, stop claiming your own self-righteousness. You need a Savior. Amen? All right. Now, here's what it also does, the third thing and the last for this portion. It speaks up, the blood of Abel does, it speaks up for all those who are innocent martyrs. And this includes The prophets that were described there in Matthew and in Luke. This includes Stephen, who Paul stood watching over the clothing as they shed Stephen's blood, Paul accounts himself there in Acts. It includes all those mentioned in Revelation. And I thought this pretty interesting, hadn't noticed this kind of recurring theme in Revelation, chapter 16, chapter 17, chapter 18, chapter 19, Again and again, the martyr's blood cries out for vengeance. That's what the blood of Abel is crying out for. The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me, God says. What does he mean? He means it's crying out for vengeance. God's character demands it. He's a holy and righteous God. And here was the first murder. Think about that. The first murder that ever occurred between the first two offspring of Adam and Eve. Well, that didn't take long, did it? Just as our children come and it won't take long before they too, without the grace of God, will be murdering in their heart and speaking lies and seeking their own self-righteousness. They need Christ. We all need Christ. But this theme here, again and again, you see The blood says vengeance is needed. Justice is required. Yeah? Absolute justice. And that's what we see in 16.6. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve. That's some hard language here. But, you know, once would be enough, but then again in 17.6. And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." In 1824? I have to read these because it's just one of those things that maybe with everything going on in Revelation, you're like, oh, I didn't pick up on that. Here is the blood speaking, chapter after chapter after chapter, that vengeance will come upon those who did shed innocent blood. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on earth. And 19 too, for his judgments are true and just, for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality and has avenged on her the blood of his servants. There's coming a day, friends, when God will avenge the blood of his saints. The ancient words of God, the truth of God, handed down by saints of old, oftentimes through blood, through sacrifice. There's a time coming when God will avenge all of that. The prophets who did search within themselves of what the Spirit of God was revealing about Jesus Christ, who were murdered for it, for proclaiming Jesus Christ, their blood will be avenged. Abel's blood, who was murdered just because he offered true sacrifice to God. Just, that's the only reason. And we too offer our lives as a true sacrifice. Throw that nugget in there. Just because we offer, because Abel offered his life as a true sacrifice, he was murdered and he will be avenged by God. That's what the blood calls for. Ultimately saying, wow, they need this, this, This murderer, who is all of us outside of Christ, needs salvation. Needs a safe place to run, some safe tower that they might flee to, that the Avenger might not pursue them, yes? They need a Savior. And so, Abel and the sacrifices he made, which speak to us of our need of a savior, or Abel and his death, the ultimate sacrifice he made with his life, speaking to us our need of a savior. This is what Abel's blood tells us. But see, the scripture tells us that the blood, the sprinkled blood, which can be presumed safely, the blood of Christ, of Jesus, this speaks a better thing. It speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. And I love how the word better, and I've heard you guys maybe in Hebrews currently, and you may have already come across in the first and second chapter even of this use of the word better, a better covenant, a better high priest, a better prophet, better than Moses. Right? Better, better, better. And so this is a regular theme in Hebrews. And so now I rejoice in being able to turn our attention from the condemnation of Abel's blood and now look at the hope that we have in the accomplished shedding of Christ's blood. And I love how specific scripture is. And I'm gonna take us to a few places here. So feel free to jot these down or just try and flip with me. I purposely did not pre-mark them so that my flipping could allow you some time to get there as well, because I want you to see it with your own eyes, that the spirit of God through the apostles, through the writers of the Holy Scripture did influence them to specifically write what the blood does. in multiple places. And I thought, wow, how convenient for someone who wants to give you eight points today on what the blood does. Because scripture just tells you, here's what the blood does, number one. Here's what the blood does, number two. And then my only effort was seeking the Lord as to what order should we put him in. But here it is all written out. And it's no wonder that we find hymns throughout the church focusing on the blood, right? There is power, power, wonder-working power in the blood of the Lamb. What kind of power? Well, let's see the power of the blood. Let's see what this better word is. Better word. Don't you want to hear a better word after you just got finished hearing about how you're in desperate need of a sacrifice or there's going to be judgment and vengeance. There's going to be no place to hide or self-justification and you can't possibly veil it with any type of hypocrisy or show. So you're going to be standing before God naked like Adam and Eve and you need a sacrifice. What is that sacrifice? What is that blood that's going to cover you? Here's the blood. Eight things that the blood speaks. Number one, the blood speaks in Romans 3, 25 of propitiation. Romans 3, 25. Remember, it was Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount who says that if you're even angry at your brother, If you hate your brother, you've murdered him in your heart, right? And then he says right after that, Matthew 5, 22, you're angry at your brother, then you have the judgment to fear, the judgment. And I want us to make sure that we're looking at a God of wrath when we look at a God of the scripture. He's a God of wrath upon all wickedness, of all evil deeds, But 1 Thessalonians 1.10 says he delivers us from the wrath. And so I say all that to give us some backdrop to the definition of propitiation. Many of you probably already know it, but for those like myself who had to look it up again, propitiation simply means appeasement. Now we won't get into expiation and propitiation and all those distinctions and certainly I think you could get both carried away in a good sense and a negative sense with that study for sure. But ultimately what we're talking about is a God of wrath who because of the sins of man now justly as a righteous and holy God must punish and bring vengeance upon those sins. And now we need a savior. and the blood appeases God. I think our culture has a general problem with a God that needs to be appeased, right? I mean, oh, that's so archaic. That's for these old religions of sacrifice and such. I just have this religion with Jesus and we have relationship. Well, God is angry with the wicked every day. And we have guilt upon us. But first and foremost, we need an angry God to be appeased. It's a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of an angry God. And we need the blood to appease. And that's what the blood speaks. It says, I have appeased God. Let's look specifically at the verse, Romans 3, 25. Let's back up to 24. We are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith. And it's almost like Paul, as we continue in the verse, like he anticipates an argument. Okay, if we say, that Christ was put forward at a certain point in history, historically and actually, came to earth in the flesh, fully God and fully man, came and walked on this earth, went to the cross and died on the cross. And Paul says, when Jesus did that, the blood that was shed was for propitiation, to appease an angry God. then the argument could be made, well, but what about all that time before he did that? Was he angry then? What was going on, Paul? Was God mad still? Was God just, was he not being just? How was that handled? And it's like he anticipates that. So he says, this, this act of putting, God putting Christ forward as a propitiation by his blood and the fullness of time, this was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance, he passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. So in other words, yes, okay, it was at a point in time. But this appeases me in such a way that appeases me for all sin past and all sin future and all sin present. That's the power of the blood. That's what the blood speaks. That we have a God who is now appeased of his wrath towards sinners through the propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. We'll get to that. Okay, now I want us to also think about the fact that all men are guilty here. And I don't bring that up randomly, but more so in light of recent events. As I think about the fact that there's an angry God, people say, oh yeah, yeah, I know there's an angry God. Did you see that hurricane? That proved God was angry, right? Maybe not, okay? Did you see the blood that was shed mixing the righteous blood with the unrighteous blood in the streets of New York as violence increases? Have you read that headline? So certainly, you know, there's gotta be something of God's wrath being poured out on our country, right? Because look at all the bad that's happening in our streets. Or maybe you might say, well, look at those people over there, that tower fell down on them, right? Yeah, so that tower fell on them, they must have been more wicked. God must have been pouring his wrath there. So yeah, I see a wrathful God. I see it all around. Look at all these activities. But really those things, the blood of the guilty and innocent in the streets of New York, and those who presumably, possibly, potentially may have died here recently in Florida in that tower falling, all of them, they are speaking a message. Their blood also speaks a message to us, and that is that we also will likewise perish if we do not repent, and if we do not believe. in Jesus Christ and his shed blood as a propitiation for the wrath of God. Those things of providence in no way reflect whether God was being specifically wrathful or angry towards those people or these people. In fact, that just breeds more of that legalism that the blood calls out, right? Oh, I'm better than them. I didn't die yet. No one in my family died. So I must be better because God's wrath isn't coming upon me. I didn't get struck by lightning. No, preachers die in pulpits just like wicked men die in their prison cells. Yes? So, nonetheless, that all those deaths, all death of men, the wages of sin do cry out that we need an appeasement for God's wrath. And the blood speaks a better word and says that has been accomplished. All right, second thing, our justification. Okay, an appeasement. but also a justification, Romans 5, 9, just a few chapters over. Justification is not the removal of God's wrath, but rather the removal of a guilty sentence. Or said another way, it is the removing of condemnation upon us. But look at the specific relationship between the blood and our justification that we have in Christ. Romans 5, 9, So closely related to the first point, appeasing the wrath of God, but specifically talking about the guilty verdict in the courtroom of heaven. And now for believers, because of the blood, it speaks and says, who can condemn the elect of God? Romans 8, 33 tells us that very similar language, right? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died and the one who bled, right? Without the blood of Christ, there's nothing to remove that guilty verdict. There's no basis. There's no basis for us to be declared righteous. A just judge could not declare us righteous without a basis to do it, and that basis is the blood of Christ. Also, we have redemption. Third, redemption. The blood speaks of redemption. 1 Peter 1, 18 and 19. 1 Peter 1, 18 and 19, reads this way, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. So you have the blood as the payment the payment for our redemption. What is redemption? What is ransom? I think we've lost that in our culture as well, but it's good to remind ourselves of it. Whether you look at it through slavery, or whether you look at it through war, it was a price paid for an individual to free them from that position of captivity, which presupposes, friends, that all men and women and children are captive by something. What are we captive by? Sin. Satan and the world were captive. But let's not get confused. This ransom price of blood was not paid to Satan to set us free, but rather paid to God, who was truly the offended party in this matter, and who truly need to be paid for the sin debt. But the blood sets us free, ransom, redemption, those words can be used interchangeably, ransoming us from the power and bondage of sin, buying us back. In a very much lesser example, I like to think about a pawn shop, a pawn broker. Here's a ticket. I take my watch and they say, I'll give you five bucks for that piece of junk. And then they give me a ticket. And in order to get that watch back, I have to pay the price associated with it, right? So the price is the blood and the watch is you and I. Certainly, it's much deeper than that, but at a very basic level, it's a thought. How does the watch come back into possession or how does the human being come back into right standing with God is through redemption, the payment to that palm broker. Take that for what it's worth, it's helpful for some. Redemption through His blood is also mentioned in Ephesians 1, 7. I couldn't leave this one off even though it's a duplication here of 1 Peter 1, 18 and 19. But in Ephesians 1, verse 7, in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace. According to the riches of His grace we have redemption in the blood, redeemed how I love to proclaim it, right? redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. You familiar with that hymn? It's a good one. So, as we look at this, let's stop here in Ephesians 1-7 just briefly and see how the author here goes from redemption through his blood to the forgiveness of our trespasses. I think we can come to the conclusion that the forgiveness is by His blood and seems to be related to redemption somehow. And I think the way it's related to redemption specifically, if I understand it correctly, is that it is the first step in redemption. It's the kicking off point in redemption. Okay, it's redemption, forgiveness of sins. It's all by His blood. And we know that the forgiveness of sins is alluded to multiple times as being based upon His blood. Do we not? Multiple times in scripture we find God's word saying that we are washed by the blood. That's how we get songs like, how's that song go? Washed in the blood. I'll be washed, yeah, in the blood, in the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb, right? Whiter than snow, yes, whiter than snow. Wash me whiter than snow. But forgiveness of sins, as I think this scripture is communicating, I feel rather confident in this, that is the first step, it's the furtherance, it's the beginning point, the kicking off point for redemption. And here again, we come to this fact that many in the world think of themselves as very good. And so there's a redemption, a supposed redemption being communicated by many, a supposed gospel, or maybe it's just a partial gospel. It's just not the full picture that's being communicated to many about a risen Savior, about a Jesus that brings you hope, about a Jesus that brings you blessing, and I'm not saying the fully incorrect prosperity gospel, I'm just talking about a gospel missing all the pieces that talks about a Jesus that you need to help you avoid sin and not mess up going forward. And that's great to the human mind, because the human mind goes, oh, yeah, this sin stuff, yeah, I liked it, but many people come to the conclusion, yeah, it's not too good. How many have you heard, I did that when I was younger, but now I'm reaping the consequences? I mean, people come to the conclusion on their own, yeah, sinful lifestyles, lead to some types of repercussions and consequences. So yeah, let me try your Jesus and see if he can help me avoid some of the pitfalls. Like if I don't get mad, I don't have a bad day with my spouse. So I kind of look to Jesus to help me control my anger. And I think this is really missing it because it's looking to trying to fix sins that are forward. And that's the gospel that's presented to them. Use Jesus to fix sins that are in front of you. But I would hope that when we present the gospel, that we first deal with the wrath of God, this cloud, this dark, stormy cloud hanging over them currently, which is their guilt. and the sin that they've already committed. That's what we really need to be pressing with the law of God even in some cases, right? For those who are proud and say, no, I'm a good person. I'm not as bad as that guy. We may bring the law of God to try in many different ways and different fashions. There's a few techniques out there. Try to bring the law of God forward and say, plead with them. recognize that you're a sinner, because I will say this, there is no salvation for the one who does not recognize themself as a needy sinner. I'll say that unequivocally. There's some things I'm unsure of, but that I'll say. There's no salvation for those who cannot recognize themselves as a desperate, wicked, needy sinner. There's just not. Because what do you need to be saved from if you don't recognize that you're so sinful? What are you being saved from anyway? Yeah? Is that fair? We need people to see that they're sinners by nature, sinners from birth, sinners by choice, sinners against a holy God. And that's the gospel we want to put forward, that the physician didn't come for the well, but rather for the sick. And they're all sick. We are all sick. Even Paul said, I received mercy. Why? Because of his ignorance. Meaning, I recognize myself to be ignorant and unknowing and in need. Well, he was a scribe and a scholar and above his peers. He has a great glowing resume over there in Philippians, right? But yet he came to the conclusion, I'm nothing. And in fact, I'll give up everything that I thought I was, that I might have Christ. Many messages are only presenting a God that loves you, and people walk away thinking, well, okay, He loves me, He's gonna help me going forward. And they don't fully realize, and I hope we all realize, how desperately in need we are. looking backwards. We need our sin taken care of. We need this forgiveness, saints. We're in desperate need of it. And the blood speaks and says, you have forgiveness of sins. 1 John 1, 7. I'll give you some scripture here. 1 John 1, verse 7. says, 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. You can just sit and just enjoy that. All sin which I believe specifically references sins of past as well as sins in the future. Now if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, this is one of my favorite verses, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Thank the Lord for that, for his blood that speaks this forgiveness to us. So much better than the blood of Abel, yeah? So much better. Look, John was writing these things that we might not sin, but if any of you do sin, you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ and his blood. Amen. Hebrews 9, getting back towards Hebrews here. That was the fourth reason. And we're gonna do these others a little quicker. Hebrews 9, 22. Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood. And without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. I don't want us to be confused here. The shedding of blood was absolutely necessary for the forgiveness of our sins. Without the blood of Christ, there is no forgiveness of sins. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. They're wrong. Scripture speaks very clearly. Now there's purifying, forgiveness of sins, but there's also the purifying of our conscience. And I wanted to separate these. I put this as number five. Maybe you could take four and five and put them together, right? When you're forgiven of your sins, then your conscience is purified. But I want us to focus in here because Hebrews 9.14 specifically says, that 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. So I kind of see this as the other side of the coin. When we receive forgiveness of sins and we offer up praise, thank you, Lord, for the forgiveness because my dirty, wretched rags are now white as snow and I stand before you cleansed of all my sin. But now going forward, it also purifies our conscience so that we can serve the living God. See, I tell you what, if I didn't have this confidence, there's no way ever that I'd get up here in front of you and try and attempt to speak about God's word. Because there's no hope in serving the living God outside of the forgiveness of sins and the purifying of my conscience. There would be too much here hazing in front of me because of what's on my conscience that I could not speak. Yet it is because of the blood of Jesus Christ that we all can speak and communicate to everyone around us the great things that God has done for us by his grace. You see, no longer are we weighed down by the guilt, it's removed. And no longer are we constrained, and I don't know if you ever felt this way, but like weights, like just bound by fear of failure. As though, I know how terrible I am. I know how much I've messed up. I couldn't possibly do the right thing tomorrow. I'm gonna mess it up again." And there's this fear of failure. This fear of just doing the wrong thing again. You know what's right. You know in your heart, you know you're trusting the Lord, but there's this fear of failure. But I believe that the blood of Christ, when we truly place our faith and our trust, that's what we mean by faith, a full dependence on the blood of Christ to speak for us, we have a purified conscience. And now we're free, we're set free to serve the living God. We're not afraid of failure or of not doing that which we know we should do for the Lord. And we're no longer bound either by the fear of man. Because remember, what's the worst that man can do to us? Shed our blood. But blood's already been shed for us, so we're no longer afraid. Our conscience is clear, but also we're no longer bound by the fear of man, and the love of Christ compels us no matter what we face. Our sixth, he gives us reconciliation and peace. reconciliation and peace. That's coming from Colossians 1 20 and 22. Now 6 and 7 are again two sides of what I believe to be the same coin. Colossians 1 20 through 22 And through him, let's see, go to verse 19. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. So six and seven, reconciliation and peace, and then us being brought near. It's two sides of the same coin, but I think they need to be looked at separately. First is this reconciliation, God, being reconciled with us. You see, God, like I mentioned, is full of judgment and wrath. That's what the blood of Abel says, that the wrath of God is upon all men. But what we see is that through Christ, we're reconciled to God, making peace by the blood of his cross. Peace with God. Peace with God. You see, it's not so much trying to get us on the right page so that we just appreciate God. The bigger problem that the blood had to overcome was God not being pleased with us. But the blood speaks and says that there is now peace by the blood of His cross with God. And Romans 5.10 says the same thing in that while we were yet sinners, right? While we were yet against God, God did put forward a plan and accomplish it on the cross, bringing us peace with him. But then also in Ephesians 2, we have the flip side of that. Ephesians 2 14, For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that He might create in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility." So a lot happening there. The main point is that We've been brought near to God. Now in verse 13, now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. The blood speaks of nearness now, nearness for us. God has been appeased and there has been reconciliation. And now, you know, it's one thing to reconcile with someone. had some things like that go on like, oh, hey, I just send you a text. I want to apologize. Six months ago, the Lord really convicted me. I shouldn't have spoke that way. Oh, yeah, no problem. And then I haven't talked to that brother since then. He's in some other state. There's one thing to be reconciled. If I saw him again, I'd hug him. And it's good. We're reconciled. But it's another to be brought near. You know, hey, how's it going? Oh, yeah, well, I'm out of the house right now. Why don't you be brought near to me? Why don't you come on down? I'll put you up in my house. We'll do some Bible study and we'll continue to see where we're going from here on out. You see, it's one thing to be reconciled. It's another to be brought near and to be brought close. And not only to be brought close, but then to be granted, according to Hebrews 10, 19, boldness to enter in by the blood. Boldness. I love this verse as well. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places, how? By the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain that is through his flesh. And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean, that's by blood, from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. And so there was able sacrifices, speaking of separation, you know, a tent and a place where only the high priest could go one time with blood, blood everywhere, blood for the priest, blood for the place, blood for the people, right? Blood everywhere. And yet here was Christ by His blood speaks a better thing, boldness to enter in, to be brought near to a holy God with a pure conscience to serve Him. and to praise Him for the forgiveness, the justification, and the propitiation that we have in Him. And ultimately, all of this can be summarized in this last point, the eighth, and that is the inauguration of the New Covenant. All of this is the New Covenant in His blood. So, in the Prophets, you have quite a few places where the New Covenant is mentioned, but Jeremiah 31 is my favorite. I have a lot of favorites, by the way. You should too. Jeremiah 31 verses 31 through 34. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. Not like that covenant. Not like what Abel's blood speaks. My covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God. They shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, know the Lord. For they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest." Right? From the prison Person to the Pharaoh, right? Least to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more. Wow, Lord, how are you going to do that? The blood that speaks better things. By the blood. It's Hebrews chapter 9, verse 18. He makes a point here, the author. Therefore, not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. Hey, the first covenant wasn't even inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats 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 the 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 sins." And so the blood brings us a new covenant. This cup is the new covenant in my blood. We look at that often when we do communion together, right? This cup is the new covenant in my blood. My blood is true drink. John chapter 6. He was losing people there, but he was emphasizing this very important piece that it was his blood that must be heard and drunk. It must be this blood alone. There is no hope for you outside of this blood. The blood of Abel speaks of judgment, condemnation, judgment upon our religious activities, judgment upon our self-righteousness, judgment upon our lies and hypocrisy, judgment upon our sins, all of them, every single one of them, even if it was just one little sin, judgment upon it all. That's what the law concludes. That's what the blood of Abel concludes. But the blood of Christ speaks better things, better things. Hear them. Don't trust in your own works to save you from the wrath of God and don't trust in the church to save you from the wrath of God, but trust in Christ alone. Remember what John the Baptist said in closing, right? Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And that Lamb of God will go to the cross and he will present himself a sacrifice for our sins once for all. And now we do rejoice, believing, repenting, We do rejoice putting our trust fully in this blood that we have a better word spoken about us, friends, a better word of salvation. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you. We thank you for your blood. Lord, you're so good to us and far beyond that which we deserve. Your blood again and again, has accomplished so much for us. Certainly, Peter was right when he called it the precious blood. More precious than gold or silver. More precious than houses or land. Your blood did pay the cost that we could never pay ourselves. What could we bring, Lord? What would we bring to you? What will we present to you when we stand before your throne and we answer for every idle word, when we answer for all of our deeds, the way we didn't love our spouse as you love the church, the way we didn't submit as we ought to, the way we didn't follow your word, the sins of omission, of commission, of all the many things that the law does weigh against us. But Lord, we hear the still small voice, the voice of your blood, that does speak better things for us, Lord, we thank you that you have taken us and placed us in Christ, and that is where we now reside, safe forevermore in you. Lord, I would that if any are not placing their faith in you, Lord, that you'd move on their hearts now and that you would cause them to believe, to recognize how futile, how vain, how worthless and empty it is to trust in anything except your blood, and that they would desire then to spend the rest of their life learning more about it. Lord, would you give us the grace that we all need to wholly trust upon your blood. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.