The Purpose of the Blood

My least of the least favorite things is shopping and buying a car.

In fact, I dislike car shopping so much that at one time, Beth can attest for this,

I actually calculated how many more times I would have to do it in the rest of my life.

You know, because if a car lasts only so long and human beings only last so long,

well, there you have it.

I've only got to go through this ordeal so many more times and then I'm done.

And the thing I think I like, I dislike about car buying so much is the negotiation.

The back and forth, the wheeling and dealing, the proposal and counterproposal,

the let me talk to my manager and see what I can do.

Are they really talking to their manager to see what they can do?

Now, I understand that negotiation is part of the business.

I don't blame dealerships.

I don't blame car salesmen.

In fact, I kind of admire people that can do this well.

But personally, I just wish there was a price and I'd pay it.

I could drive off the lot and we'd be done.

Now, of course, people have been negotiating for a long time, right?

That's nothing new.

As long as people have been buying and selling things, I'm sure there's been negotiation.

Just like we negotiate over cars, I'm sure they were negotiating over camels back in the day.

But have you noticed how recently, today, in our sort of time, it seems like everything is negotiated?

Every interaction, every relationship we have seems to be push and pull, a bargaining process, a drawing up of contracts.

You do your part.

I do mine.

We seem to approach all of life as consumers trying to get the best deal that we can.

Even our friendships have at times been swallowed up by this mentality.

I mean, doesn't social media invite us to present a version or image of ourselves that will then convince others to befriend us or accept us?

We, as it is, we enter into the field of relationships ready to negotiate, to bargain, to try to do what it takes to get other people to buy in.

We're trying to take what we're selling.

And if it's true of our friendships, it's true of our love lives as well.

Sadly, how many marriages seem to end because people think that this wasn't what they bargained for?

That the relationship doesn't serve them anymore, it doesn't give them the desired outcome.

So it would be best if we just renegotiated and looked for someone different.

And if it's true of our friendships, and if it's true of our love lives, then friends, hasn't it become true of our spiritual lives as well?

That in our relationship to God, we often come as negotiators.

Of course, this takes different forms.

One way it comes about is, well, God, if you do this for me, fill in the blank, a job, a spouse, a child, an acceptance letter, then I'll promise to always do this for you.

It's a way of bargaining with God.

Or there's the reverse of that.

God, I've always served you, and I've always done my best to obey you.

So how could you allow this to happen?

What kind of deal is that, God?

You see, we come as negotiators.

Or another way it happens is like this.

God, you could never accept me.

Not after all I've done.

Not after all the ways I've ignored you and gone against you.

You could never take me.

But even this is a negotiating mindset, isn't it?

We've just decided in advance that the deal will never go through.

But friends, what if God isn't in the business of making deals?

What if God isn't a negotiator?

What if relating to him isn't a matter of hammering out a contract, but of submitting to his grace?

Our passage this morning is about just that.

It's about what God has done to set the terms of our relationship.

So that we can stop bargaining and stop negotiating and start submitting to him.

And start loving him.

And even to start enjoying him.

Our passage this morning is Hebrews chapter 9, verses 15 through 22.

Hebrews 9:15–22

It's page 1006 in the Pew Bible.

Let me invite you to turn there with me.

We've been walking through the book of Hebrews for a number of months now.

And in these weeks leading up to Easter, it sort of worked out that we've come to the central chapters of the book.

Chapters 9 and 10, where the focus is on the cross of Christ and his sacrifice for sin.

And each week, as we move through this part of the book, we'll see something important and essential about what Christ has achieved through his death for us.

So let's read our text this morning.

Hebrews 9, starting with verse 15.

Therefore, he, that is Jesus, 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 the first covenant.

For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established.

For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in 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 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.

Well, friends, here's the main point of our text this morning.

And it's what we have right at the beginning of verse 15.

Jesus Christ, through his sacrifice, is the mediator of a new covenant between us and God.

The word therefore, at the beginning of verse 15, points us back to verses 11 through 14 that we considered last week.

And there we saw two things about Christ's death on the cross.

In verse 12, we saw that it secures an eternal redemption.

That is, at the center of God's eternal plan of redemption, his plan to glorify himself through the recreation of his fallen world.

And through the rescue of a new humanity from every nation, at the center of that cosmic, eternal plan, stands the cross.

But even though the cross is as big as the world, at the same time, it's as deep and as personal as your own soul.

In verse 14, we read that through the cross, Christ doesn't just execute the great plan of God, but he also purifies our conscience.

The troubled soul can find rest in him.

And the ones who feel dirty and guilty before God can finally be made clean.

And because of all that, verse 15 says, Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant.

And I want us to simply look at three things concerning this new covenant that we see in the text of Hebrews.

First, what it is.

Second, where it's taking us.

And third, how it came to be.

Three very simple points.

So first, what is this new covenant?

Covenant language might be totally foreign to some of you, and that's completely understandable.

But, you know, when you take a step back and look at the whole Bible, what you see is that the Bible is not primarily a book of rules to follow.

Or a book of heroes to emulate.

It's actually a sweeping narrative.

It's really the story of God, who is the one true king.

And how God, in love, creates a world to display the beauty of his reign, of his kingdom.

You see, the Bible is the story of the kingdom of God.

But quickly we see that this kingdom God is bringing about is administered through covenants.

And covenants are binding commitments that God makes with his people, whereby he enters into a relationship with them.

Today we still speak of marriage sometimes as a covenant, right?

As a binding promise and commitment to another.

But that's a horizontal covenant between two humans.

Those are two mutual parties coming together.

You see, it's a bit different with God's covenants.

When God makes a covenant, it's vertical.

He sets the terms.

So when God made a covenant with the first humans, with Adam and Eve in the garden, the terms were basically this.

Eat from every tree that you see.

Enjoy my presence.

Know fullness of life.

Be my image bearer in creation.

But don't eat from that tree.

Eat from that one.

And the penalty will be death.

Death.

Those were the stipulations.

That was the arrangement.

The binding commitment.

The covenant that God made with humanity.

Life.

Death.

And of course, Adam failed.

And he fell.

And we all fell with him.

And sin and death have plagued humanity and the world ever since.

But here's a surprising thing about the biblical narrative and about the kingdom of God.

You see, Adam's fall doesn't stop our king from making covenants.

It could have.

He could have let the penalty of eternal death fall right there and then.

And our Bible would be about three chapters long.

But in his grace, God continued to make covenants with his people.

With Noah and with Abraham and with Israel and with David.

And he moves his kingdom forward.

And as it unfolds, we find that the story is not a pretty one.

Because it seems like the people will never stop turning away from God and choosing death.

But then, the prophets start to speak of a new covenant.

Of a whole new arrangement between God and his people.

And in Hebrews 8, just back one page, the author quotes Jeremiah 31, 31-34.

The passage that Ivor read for us earlier in the service.

And if you turn back there, just turn back one page to Hebrews 8.

You see that the terms of this covenant are cast completely in the form of a promise.

God says over and over again, not you must, but I will.

And we see that this covenant involves three things.

First, it involves a new heart for God.

If you're looking at Hebrews 8, verse 10, in the middle.

Hebrews 8:10

I will write my law on their hearts.

This means that an interchange takes place.

No longer are our hearts cold and hard toward God, but soft and open.

Our hearts become like flowers opening up to the rays of the sun.

I'm no longer shut closed in the darkness, but responsive to the light and reflecting his glory to the world.

This new heart for God means we have a new relish for God's word.

And we actually begin to want to follow him.

And to trust him.

And to obey him.

But the new covenant isn't just about a new heart for God.

It's also a new intimacy with God.

I will be their God and they shall be my people.

And then he goes on in verse 11 to show that it's not just some people, but all of them.

Everyone who enters into this covenant will be intimately connected and related to me.

From the least of them to the greatest.

There are no second class citizens in the new covenant.

And this is the essence of the whole covenant idea in the Bible.

That we would be in relationship with God.

That he would be our God and we would be his people.

And this relationship would be one where we belong to him in love.

Friends, how humbling it is that the king and God of the universe would stoop to relate to us in such an intimate way.

And not just as creatures, but as creatures who've rebelled against him.

And gone our own way.

The new covenant means that rebels are now drawn into intimacy with God.

But third, it's not just a new heart for God or a new intimacy with God.

It's also a new record before God.

Look at verse 12.

I will remember their sins no more.

Friends, here's the greatest surprise and privilege of the new covenant.

That our sins are forgiven and they are forgotten.

That the slate is wiped clean.

Not just of past sins, but of past and present and even future sins.

That a total forgiveness is granted.

That rebels of the king are given complete and total pardon.

Now friends, as we review this new covenant.

Stop and consider.

Who could mediate such a thing?

Can you imagine?

Where rebels deserving death because of their treason are freely granted a new record before their king?

A new intimacy with their king?

A new heart for their king?

Who could broker such an arrangement like that?

Who could mediate between these estranged parties in such a way that the king would grant us such rich and lavish privileges and gifts?

Who could stand between them and change the heart of the king in such a way that enemies would not just be granted amnesty from punishment,

but an inheritance in the kingdom?

Friends, who else but Jesus Christ?

This is what our text is telling us today.

He is the mediator of the new covenant.

The one who is fully God and fully man.

The son sent by the father in love.

Who shared our flesh and blood to bring us to God.

The Lord Jesus Christ.

Now before we consider just how Christ brings this about.

How he inaugurates and mediates and what he does to bring the new covenant into being.

Look at the next line of verse 15 in chapter 9.

This tells us where this new covenant is taking us.

What its purpose is.

What its goal is.

The verse continues.

He's the mediator of the new covenant so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.

Why does Christ mediate this covenant for us, friends?

So that when you begin, you will persevere to the end.

So that when you begin, you'll persevere to the end.

The twin poles of Christian experience are right here in this little phrase you see.

Calling and inheritance.

The beginning of our life in Christ.

Our call and our glorious destination.

The goal.

Our inheritance.

We begin when God effectually calls us through his spirit by the preaching of the gospel.

And we respond to Christ in repentance and faith.

This is what it means to be called, biblically speaking.

For some of us, God called us through the public preaching of the word.

For others, it happened through a friend who patiently shared the gospel with you over time.

And for others, it happened through parents who faithfully spoke to you of Christ as you grew up.

But whenever God did it, and whoever God used,

Hebrews wants us to see that because of the new covenant,

those who are genuinely called by God will receive the promised eternal inheritance.

He will finish what he started, friends.

I wonder if you sometimes wonder how things will end for you.

Do you doubt at times whether God will carry you through to the end?

Perhaps even now in your life, you're experiencing some hardship or some trial or some hurt or some disappointment.

And you're doubting God's care for you.

And in that disappointment, in that doubt, you want to come back to the table

and start negotiating with God and start re-bargaining the terms.

But friends, if you've placed your trust in Christ,

if God has called you to himself,

then your inheritance is secure.

Now, Hebrews talks about the Christian hope in multiple ways.

Here he calls it an eternal inheritance.

An inheritance that doesn't run out and doesn't grow old and doesn't depreciate because of inflation.

Elsewhere, he calls it the city to come.

In another place, he describes it as a festival of Sabbath rest.

And friend, no matter what image you look through or if you take them all together,

you begin to see that what God has in store for believers,

what he's guaranteed for us in the new covenant,

will far outstrip any hardship of this life.

As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5,

this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us

an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

God will finish what he started.

And the goal towards which he is taking you,

the internal inheritance will make any hardship,

any trial, any difficulty that we face,

supremely worth it in the end.

Indeed, as Paul says,

they will seem light and momentary

in comparison to that eternal weight of glory,

our internal inheritance.

And friends, if that is the case,

why would we ever bargain with God?

Why not trust him instead?

Why not rest in his hands?

Why not trust the one who's made you a rebel, an heir?

Why not trust the one who will preserve you to the end?

Why not trust the one who's given you a new heart

and a new intimacy and a new record

through a new covenant

mediated by Jesus Christ himself?

Friends, why not stop bargaining

and begin trusting this one

who's lavished such things upon you?

And this brings us to our third and last point this morning,

which is how Christ establishes this new covenant.

How does Jesus bring it about?

How has he mediated such terms for us?

Look with me at the rest of verse 15.

He says that all this is true

since a death has occurred

that redeems them from the transgressions

committed under the first covenant.

Of course, it goes without saying

that a new covenant presupposes an old one, right?

And the first covenant that Hebrews is talking about here

is the covenant that God made with Israel at Sinai,

the Mosaic covenant.

And like the covenant with Adam in the garden,

the terms of the Mosaic covenant

were basically the same.

Do this and you'll live.

Don't do this and you'll die.

The first covenant,

the covenant at Sinai promised death

to covenant breakers.

It was a covenant with conditions.

And as we read on in the Old Testament,

again, just like Adam in the garden,

Israel in the promised land

breaks the covenant.

And the penalty for such transgressions was death.

And they were expelled from the land,

just like Adam was expelled from the garden.

And so you see,

what is God teaching us?

What was Israel teaching us?

As we see in Israel the story of all of us.

Teaching us that we humans

need more than just a second chance.

We need a redeemer.

Our sins have accrued the just penalty of death.

And under the first covenant,

those sins pile higher and higher and higher

until the penalty of death

is like a great, unstoppable wave

ready to crash down at any moment.

And so we need someone to liberate us

from that awful fate

by paying the penalty for us.

That's what the word redeem means.

To purchase another's freedom.

To pay the price for their liberty.

And that is exactly what Christ has done.

His death redeems us.

Though Christ knew no sin,

on the cross he stood in the place of sinners,

bearing the penalty of death that sin deserves.

And after dying on the cross,

three days later,

God raises him from the dead,

demonstrating that the sacrifice was complete

and accepted,

and raising him from the dead,

God enthrones Christ as king over all,

such that everyone,

even now,

who repent of their sin

and believe in him

can be set free

from the penalty

of sin and death

and know the blessings

of the new covenant.

Friends, this is the gospel.

Whereas the old covenant said,

do this and live.

The new covenant,

the gospel says,

trust in the one

who's done it for you.

But a question remains,

doesn't it?

Isn't there a question lingering

under all of this,

for all of us?

And the question is,

why should his death

redeem me?

How can one man's death

2,000 years ago

have any impact on me today?

And to answer that,

Hebrews gives us

a threefold answer

in verses 16 through 22.

And the first point he makes

is an illustration

from everyday life.

In verses 16 through 17,

he talks about a will.

And what we don't immediately see

in our English translations

is that the word for will

and the word for covenant

are the same word in Greek.

I think your ESV

probably gives you

a little footnote

telling you that.

So our author is engaging

in a bit of wordplay.

He says,

think of a last will

and testament.

When the person

who sets up their will

dies,

the will goes into effect

and lots of people benefit.

The will is read

and the inheritance

is distributed.

And it's not like

you do anything beforehand

to merit the inheritance.

You simply receive it.

It's granted to you.

And Hebrews is telling us,

friends,

it's just like that

with Christ.

When he dies,

the blessings

of the new covenant

or the new testament,

if you will,

come issuing forth.

And like in everyday will,

these benefits

are unleashed

and come to us

by sheer grace.

So we can see

in our everyday experience

how one person's death

ends up benefiting many

by way of illustration,

by analogy.

But then he pushes us

a little deeper.

And the second point

in verses 18 through 22

points us not to an everyday

illustration or analogy,

but to a deep

biblical pattern,

to something that God

has written into the pages

of redemptive history.

And in these verses,

verses 18 through 22,

Hebrews is referring

to an episode

in Exodus 24,

3 through 8.

This is when God

through Moses

first ratified

the covenant

with Israel at Sinai.

And Moses read the law

to the people.

And the people said,

we'll do the whole thing.

We'll keep it.

We'll obey.

And then Moses

made sacrifices

and sprinkled the altar

and sprinkled the people

with blood.

And of course,

that seems incredibly

strange to us.

If that doesn't seem

a little strange to you,

you've probably been

hanging out in church

too long.

Sprinkling people

with blood.

And a lot of it.

And of course,

even though this

strikes us as odd,

or as we sort of

condescendingly look

at the past as primitive,

you know,

in the ancient world

it would have made

complete sense.

Because whenever a king

made a covenant

with a lesser people

or a lesser king,

they would set up

an agreement

and make a sacrifice.

And the sacrifice

was essentially

a way of saying,

if either one of us

breaks this agreement,

may I be like that animal.

May I be put to death.

It made a treaty

or a covenant

a binding oath.

You see,

so the ritual happening

in Exodus 24

wasn't really

a mystical one.

It wasn't even

a very religious one.

In fact,

what God's doing here

is actually more at home

in the sphere of politics

and treaties.

God's saying,

I'm the king

and you're my people

and here's the deal.

The great king

was cutting a covenant

with his people

and they were agreeing

that if they didn't

uphold their part

of the bargain,

they'd be just like

the animals.

But of course,

the thing is,

Israel was already sinful.

They already deserve death.

So the sprinkling

of the blood

wasn't just a sign

of what might happen

if they broke the law.

Friends,

it was a sign

that these animals

were already dying

instead of them.

You see,

for a sinful people

to enter into a relationship

with a holy God,

something has to be done

about sin.

sin deserves death.

And the animal sacrifices

were a gracious provision

of a substitute

from God.

The animals represented

the people

and died in their place.

The whole scene

is reminiscent

of the first Passover

in Egypt,

isn't it?

When the people

sprinkled the blood

of the lamb

on their doorposts.

The lamb,

you see,

functions as a substitute

for the Israelites'

firstborn son.

The lamb dies

so that when God's judgment

comes,

the firstborn doesn't have to.

He passes over them.

So God was teaching

his people

an important lesson

and pattern

from the very start

that he would provide

a substitute

to bear the penalty

of their sins.

And of course,

the animal sacrifices

were simply

a foreshadowing

of something greater

to come.

Just a pointer

and a picture

of the true

sin-bearing substitute

who is ultimately

God himself

in the person

of Jesus Christ.

Because Jesus

is fully human,

he can represent humanity.

He can represent

you and I

because he's one of us.

And because he's

fully God,

his death

is of infinite value

to cover

worlds

upon worlds

of sin.

And it is for us

as our God-appointed

substitute,

sufficient for all

who take him

in faith.

But often it's

at this point

that

some people ask,

and I think

it makes sense.

all this talk

of death

and blood

and penalty

and sacrifice,

why can't God

just forgive?

I wonder if you've

ever asked a question

like that.

I know I have.

And to answer

that question,

our passage

ends

his sort of

three-fold answer

by pointing us

to perhaps

the deepest reality

you all.

He says,

without the shedding

of blood,

there is no

forgiveness of sins.

Now, of course,

legally and ritually

that was the case

under the Mosaic law.

That's how God

set it up.

But the law,

you see,

was expressing

an even deeper

principle.

That forgiveness

is always costly.

The answer

to the question,

why can't God

just forgive,

is twofold.

First,

God is utterly

and completely

good and just

in his perfect

righteousness.

God cannot simply

overlook or ignore

sin.

That would be

to contradict

his character.

And it's simply

the one thing

that God cannot do

is not be himself.

But second,

when we ask,

why can't God

just forgive?

We forget

that no one

just forgives.

We seem to be

forgetting that

forgiveness is

always costly.

Think of it

on a small scale.

If I throw a rock

through your window

because I'm angry,

you have one

of two options.

You can either

make me pay

or you can

absorb the cost

yourself by

choosing to forgive.

The damage

is done

and someone's

going to bear

the cost.

Of course,

for more serious

offenses,

the cost of

forgiveness is

greater and

harder to bear.

If someone

mars your

character in

public,

if someone

does you

physical harm,

the path of

forgiveness means

to bear the

suffering of that

wrongdoing in

yourself and

refuse to harm

the other person

in return,

even though you

have every right

to do so.

So you see,

no one just

forgives.

There's always

a cost.

And when

Christ died

on the cross,

he was

satisfying the

divine justice

against sin

and bearing

the suffering

of wrongdoing

in order to

forgive.

As we sang

just a moment

ago,

what a love,

what a cost.

we stand

forgiven at

the cross.

And this

brings us

full circle.

Christ's death

redeems us,

frees us,

liberates us

from the

transgressions

committed under

the first

covenant.

Because his

blood was

shed,

forgiveness

has been

issued.

Like a

will being

read,

the blessings

flow forth.

death.

And this

is how

and why

Christ is

the mediator

of the

new covenant.

His death

does exactly

what the

new covenant

promises.

It does

away with

sin.

It pays

their penalty.

Because of

the cross,

those who

trust in

him have

a whole

new record

before God.

And thus

a whole

new intimacy

with God.

And thus

a brand

new heart

for God.

So friends,

the God

of the

universe

doesn't

stoop

to bargain

with us.

He doesn't

negotiate.

And I

hope now

you see

that this

is good

news.

Because the

terms that

God has

established

in Christ

are better

than any

we could

have ever

dreamed of

asking for.

And when we

stand in the

new covenant

through faith

in Christ,

do you see

how that

begins to

change how

you negotiate

your other

relationships?

For a

new covenant

believer,

friends are

no longer

people we

have to

win through

effective social

media marketing

and self-imaging.

In fact,

we no longer

need the

approval and

buy-in of

our peers

to feel

secure.

We don't

need to

posture

anymore.

Not only

do we have

the favor

of the

king of

the universe

and the

assurance

that we

are his

heirs and

that he'll

preserve us

to the

end,

but friends,

we have a

place in

the people

of the

king.

because this

new covenant

creates a

new community

of people

who love

one another

because of

the love

that they've

been shown

at the

cross.

And friends,

this means

that in the

church,

in the

local

church,

in our

church,

people who

would never

be real

friends,

people who

would never

even be

Facebook

friends,

suddenly find

themselves in

meaningful

relationships,

loving one

another,

serving one

another,

getting involved

in each

other's lives,

taking interest

in their

stories,

rejoicing with

them,

bearing

burdens with

them.

The new

covenant

creates a

whole new

dynamic in

our relationships,

you see.

And what's

more, the new

covenant creates

a community not

only where people

love one another

and sacrificially

and inconveniently

so,

but it

creates a

community where

people forgive

one another.

Because we've

all been

forgiven through

the work of

Christ,

because all of

us stand

equal before

the cross,

equally condemned,

equally forgiven.

Friends, the

local church,

this assembly of

believers,

bound together in

membership, is to

be the place

above all

where forgiveness

is extended and

received.

where we keep

short accounts,

where we delight

to forbear with

one another's

faults.

Friends, in our

world of

negotiations, I

don't think people

would know what

to do with us if

they saw a

community like

that, of love

and of

forgiveness.

forgiveness.

Where the

bargaining has

ceased.

Where the

negotiations have

ended.

So how about it,

friends?

In light of the

new covenant and

Jesus, our

mediator, how

will you love?

How will you

forgive?

How will you

forgive?

May it be so by

his spirit.

Let's pray.

God, in your

covenant, we are

secure because we

have an utterly

perfect mediator.

Lord, I pray for

us as a church

that we would

grasp the hope

that we have in

deep and real

ways.

us.

And Lord, as

we come to

enjoy the new

covenant that we

have, that you

have given to us,

God, would you

make us loving and

would you make us

forgiving?

And God, for

those who are

here, who don't

yet know Christ,

who don't yet

know the glory of

being a part of

this new covenant,

God, I pray that

you would begin to

call them, that

you would call

them forth to

repentance and

faith in your

son.

God, we ask all

this in Christ's

name.

Amen.