This is a rush transcript.

[00:04:03] Tonight, I want you to picture, if you will, the blood of Jesus Christ. As Christians, we sing many songs about the blood of Jesus that was shed for our sins. What does it really mean? What is the significance of it?

[00:04:18] I mean, I would imagine when that crown of thorns got pounded into his head by that reed, that's when the blood would have began to flow.

[00:04:25] We know that they nailed his hands and his feet to the cross.

[00:04:32] It's hard to imagine there was blood flowing from those wounds and it would have eventually had so much blood flowing that it would have gone all the way down the cross and there would have been a little pool of blood.

[00:04:45] I mean, the.

[00:04:47] The story of Good Friday is a graphic, violent story of blood. That's a lot different than than my life.

[00:04:56] When I think of blood, I think of like a sterile environment like this, like a hospital or a doctor's office. I think about putting on some some gloves, perhaps, you know, making sure that the whole room is antiseptic.

[00:05:12] You know, making sure everything is is hands. There's no germs on the hands and everything. And then somebody maybe gets a big needle out like this.

[00:05:22] All right.

[00:05:24] Ever had your blood drawn before, so this is what I think about, this is like a nightmare scenario for me.

[00:05:31] I can distinctly recall one time I went in to draw blood and the lady pulled out a needle that I'm pretty sure was was bigger than this one right here.

[00:05:41] And I felt the cold, hard metal pierce in through my skin into my vein. And I watched as the lady pulled it out and it just started filling up this massive syringe, filling up with blood. And I completely lost it.

[00:06:01] Now, I'm not talking about something that happened yesterday. This was when I was a boy. This was when I was growing up. And my mom was there with me, I remember. And this nurse and I couldn't believe how much of my blood was going in.

[00:06:15] And I started to scream, and it was one of those screams that for a while was silent because you were overwhelmed with terror. There was no sound. And then eventually I just let out a massive scream. Right in this nurse's face.

[00:06:31] And she freaked out. And I said, Mom, get me out of here, right? Now, that wasn't a very tough kid, as you can imagine from that story, if you can rate your tolerance of pain on a scale of one to 10.

[00:06:47] I was about a negative 12 when I was growing up. All right. If I had a little bit of a stomach flu, I was in the bathroom crying out. I can't live like this at the top of my lungs. And my family has never let me hear the end of that. Okay. And so now I figure that I've matured, that I've grown up all just and I've been and I've been practicing, I'll just take somebodies blood here tonight. All right. And you could see I've got my little biohazard bag. And here's some of our staff that I practiced on earlier in the week.

[00:07:21] And so who would like to volunteer to give blood here tonight to just come on up and I'll just use the needle? I've been practicing. Especially if you're really afraid of the needle. Who would like to volunteer?

[00:07:32] Right.

[00:07:34] Zee, there's no way you would get me up here to do that, right? Some of us were very afraid of giving blood. Some of us, though, are very noble, more noble than than souls like me. We willingly you willingly give blood because you think it's good to give blood because other people might need it.

[00:07:53] So that's something we can kind of understand and are kind of sterile existence. We understand. Hey, yeah, that blood is is life.

[00:08:03] And I got to be careful about my blood. I'm very protective of my blood.

[00:08:06] But maybe I need to give blood because others might be in need.

[00:08:11] Here's a verse I really want you to think about. It's Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 24. Look at it with me. Hebrews 12, verse 24. We'll put it up here on the screen. It says into Jesus. The mediator of a new covenant and to the Sprinkel blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. So if you've got a Bible, turn to Hebrews 12, that's where most of our message tonight is gonna be coming from. And we're really just going to try to break down this one verse. What does this mean? Maybe you've heard about the blood of Jesus and you've sung some of the songs about it before. Have you ever really studied this verse?

[00:08:48] What I actually want you to do is not just hear me talk about the blood of Jesus. I don't even want you to just hear what the Bible says about the blood of Jesus. I want you to actually hear the blood of Jesus speak to you here tonight.

[00:09:03] That's what it says it does. Here, here in this verse says that we've drawn to Jesus, Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant.

[00:09:12] There's a way that you and I can have a relationship with God through his son, Jesus Christ.

[00:09:18] And it's through this sprinkled blood. There's this sprinkled blood that's going to put us in a new covenant and this blood, this blood of Jesus.

[00:09:27] Well, it speaks a better word than the blood of evil. What in the world does that mean? And why is Abel's blood speaking in the first place? And then why is Jesus his blood speaking a better word? And what are we doing? Sprinkling blood? That really kind of bothers me. Right.

[00:09:46] Sprinkles, maybe on donuts. Maybe on cupcakes. Where were we sprinkling blood? So we're going to have to really put our mind into what is this verse telling me in you that the blood of Jesus is saying to us, there is something that we need to hear together tonight or something that you need to hear, because Good Friday, the blood of Jesus is speaking to you.

[00:10:09] Have you heard it?

[00:10:11] It's a better word.

[00:10:13] And we're going to have to break this down into three acts to follow the story of the blood of Christ and the first act.

[00:10:20] We're gonna have to go to is is this guy, Abel, what do we mean here by the blood of Abel? We're gonna have to go all the way back to the Garden of Eden, to Adam and Eve, the first man, the first woman created by God, joined together and then deceived by Satan.

[00:10:38] And when God created it, everything was good. But when Satan came in and deceived Eve and she partook of the fruit and Adam partook of the fruit.

[00:10:49] Well, then we had to fall into sin.

[00:10:53] That's in Genesis three. And then you get to Genesis Chapter four. It turns out that Adam and Eve, they had two sons.

[00:11:01] If you've got a Bible, turn there with me to Genesis for maybe you're familiar with the story, but there's some great details here. We've got Cain. Cain. They're their first born here. Cain is a Cain is the oldest here. And then we have his brother, Abel, a second born here.

[00:11:20] Abel, it says they have different occupations. Abel was a keeper of sheep. Abel is a shepherd, and Cain, he is a worker of the ground. He is some kind of a farmer here.

[00:11:32] Two brothers.

[00:11:34] And over time, unfortunately, we develop a sibling rivalry between Cain and Abel. Maybe you know how the story ends. It says, in the course of time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground. And Abel also brought the first born of his flock and of their fat portions. So they both bring an offering out of their occupation. They bring a gift here to the Lord. But it says that the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but he did not have regard for Cain in his offering.

[00:12:08] And so Cain was very angry. And his face fell.

[00:12:12] He hears this kind of jealousy when there's somebody who's doing what is right and sometimes they're referred to as a goody two shoes. Well, then there's somebody over here who sees that and there's this bitterness, this anger that creeps in. That's what happened between these brothers. The older brother Cain now getting angry at his other younger brother because his sacrifice was accepted. And they'll look what the Lord said, the Cain. If you're there in Genesis four, verse six, the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry?

[00:12:39] Why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? Hey, why don't you just focus on doing well?

[00:12:46] Cain, don't. Don't be angry about your brother. Why don't you just do what you're supposed to do and if you do not do well.

[00:12:53] Sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it. A picture. Watch out, Cain. Sin is crouching at the door. It wants to be your master. You must rule over it.

[00:13:07] Well, Cain went and spoke to Abel, his brother. But he wasn't saying that he was sorry. No, he was luring his brother into a trap. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

[00:13:23] So here we go, Chapter four, and we already have death. We had to fall into sin and now we see the consequence.

[00:13:32] And the first death that we have recorded for us in the history of the world is a murder one brother killing another.

[00:13:42] Doesn't tell us exactly how Cain killed his brother. But could you imagine that moment?

[00:13:49] When Cain struck his own brother out of this bitter rage. And Able must have crumbled to the ground and his blood must have been spilled right there on the ground. There it is now. Blood, the life going out of Abel, what did Cain think? When he sees the blood of evil. Here's a verse I want everybody to see, we're gonna throw it up here on the screen.

[00:14:19] It's Genesis Chapter four, verse 12, because there's that famous question. The Lord comes to Cain and he says, hey, where's your brother? And Cain gives that famous reply. Am I my brother's keeper? Why would I know where my brother is? Look what God says in Genesis, chapter four, verse 12.

[00:14:36] And the Lord said, What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.

[00:14:48] The blood of Abel is speaking.

[00:14:51] It's calling out to God from where it has been spilled on the ground and it is crying out for justice. It is crying out that something wrong has been done, this was not what God intended when he made man in his image.

[00:15:09] He never intended for one man to kill another. In fact, God is very serious about men killing other men, his creatures killing one another. Now, that's ultimately what leads God to do acts of judgment upon cities. And even upon the whole world. And he makes it very clear any man who sheds blood by man, his blood will be shed because God has made man in his own image.

[00:15:38] And the blood of Abel is crying out to God from the ground for justice. Now look at these versus where Jesus talks about the blood of Abel crying out to God. Here's one in Matthew 23, when Jesus is rebuking the religious leaders of his day, the hypocrites, the Pharisees. He says. So that on you may come all the righteous bloodshed on Earth when people are killed unjustly.

[00:16:08] There is this cry from the ground of blood for justice. And now Jesus is saying that the judgment for all this blood that has been shed. It's a comment.

[00:16:21] And he says, who was going to come on the hypocrites of his day? He says, From the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Ariah, the son of Berrett Caia, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.

[00:16:37] Here's Abel, the first to be murdered unjustly. Now there's a history of God's people killing the prophets that God would send to them to deliver his message. And hey, all of this cry of justice that comes up from this blood. It's going to come upon you.

[00:16:54] Jesus says to the hypocrites of his day, he says that within one generation they will be destroyed. And we believe that Jesus died somewhere around 30, 33 in that area. A.D. in the 30s. A.D. will by 70 A.D. Jerusalem is wiped out.

[00:17:13] The Jews are are wiped out there in Israel at that time. Because the blood that was crying out for justice, the judgment came upon them.

[00:17:23] This is what was chilling from what we read earlier in Matthew 27 pilot. He washes his hands of the blood of Jesus.

[00:17:32] But the people, because they want to crucify our Lord, the people of Israel, God's chosen people. They cry out. They answered his blood. Be on us and on our children.

[00:17:47] We'll be guilty for his blood. We'll take the justice for his blood, not only for themselves, do they say that, but they put it on the next generation. Are you saying that going all the way back from Abel when he was murdered by his brother?

[00:18:04] There has been a cry from everyone who was killed unjustly, especially those who are doing what is right in God's sight. There is a cry for justice and it can even be passed from one generation to the other. And here it came upon the people of Israel when they murdered our Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:18:25] When his blood was on their hands.

[00:18:28] See, Abel is the first and it's the first death we find out that the curse of sin, the wages of sin, what our sin is going to get us is a brutal consequence that we are all going to have to experience. And so the blood of Abel, it says a word to us that is going to happen to each and every one of us that each and every one of us are going to die.

[00:18:56] This is the word of the blood of Abel. This is what it says, that truly sin does lead to death. And as Abels blood spills on the ground, we see the wages of sin. Cain sees it right there. And Cain is coerced from that point onward.

[00:19:15] The blood of Abel, what is it saying? Well, it's saying there is a consequence of sin. The consequence of sin is death.

[00:19:21] And it's crying out for justice.

[00:19:27] Now in Hebrews Chapter twelve, let's go back to our verse. Let's let's let's. Now we know a little bit about the blood of Abel. Let's look back at this again to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant to this spring, cold blood. What's that sprinkled blood about? Well, the sprinkled blood of Jesus speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. So we need a better word than die. What is the better word that that it's going to say to us?

[00:19:52] Well, if you're there in Hebrews 12, you'll see that there's two mountains that are contrast. There is, first of all, Mt. Sinai. This is the mountain where God met with his people. This is where Act two is going to take place. Act one took place outside the Garden of Eden will act to takes place at Mount Sinai. In our story, God delivers his people out of Egypt and he's taking them to the promised land. And he leads them to a mountain where God is going to address his people. And he's going to form a relationship with them. A covenant with them. And he begins to give them the law and it starts with 10 commands.

[00:20:33] If you want to turn there to Exodus Chapter 20, this is where we pick up. Act to an exodus. 20.

[00:20:42] And if you know something about Exodus 20, maybe you could list all the 10 commands. Maybe you don't know. Word for word, but you could get the idea. No other gods, no idols. Don't take the Lord's name in vain. Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery.

[00:21:00] On and on it goes. Ten of them. We may maybe you're familiar with that ball. We're not as familiar with with how the people were terrified at Mount Sinai. I hear so many people say sometimes I wish God would just speak to me and he would just tell me what he wants me to do in my life, that God would just speak to me and give me direction. Well, God actually spoke to his people at Mount Sinai and they couldn't handle it.

[00:21:26] They didn't want God speaking to them. No.

[00:21:29] To approach the holiness of God as human beings, to approach his power and his glory. It's not something you wish for. It's something you dread. At least that's what happened to the people here in Exodus Chapter 20 after it gives the Ten Commandments. It says this in verse 18. Because on this mountain where God is speaking to Moses, where God is ready to meet with his people. Well, there is thunder and there is lightning and there is thick darkness and there's some kind of smoldering, blazing fire in the presence of God. And it says here, and when the people saw this thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of this trumpet, this loud noise and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled and they stood far off. They don't want to go near Mount Sinai. They don't want to approach God. Look what they even say. This is Exodus 20, verse 19. It's up here on the screen, it says. And they stood far off and they said to Moses, Moses, you speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us. Lest we what? They got the word see, God's given out commands and God's holding people to his standard and God's revealing his holy splendor and his glory. And the people are like, we can't relate to God.

[00:22:49] We can't be near to God if we try to be with God. We're going to.

[00:22:55] That's the wages of our sin. That's what we get.

[00:22:59] So next time you're like, our wish guy would just speak to me and tell me what to do. Maybe you need to remember the people of Israel who heard the voice of the Lord and said, Moses.

[00:23:07] We'd prefer you, man, because God's freaking us out. We can't handle his truth.

[00:23:13] That's what they say to the Ten Commandments.

[00:23:16] Now, Moses does interact with God and God tells him some things he wants him to do, and he sends Moses and the Exodus 20 force. Here's something that a lot of people maybe haven't really studied in Exodus 24 is when we get the old covenant. There's a covenant here made between God and the people of Israel. We're gonna form a relationship. The mediator of this old covenant is Moses. Moses is the one now acting as the middle man between God and the people. And so they make here you could read about it in Exodus 24. They make a covenant. And what is involved in a covenant? Well, when you're gonna make that kind of vow, that kind of oath, that kind of commitment between two parties. There was blood often involved in a coven.

[00:24:03] In fact, they have a great sacrifice. Moses kids, some of the men to offer these animals up as a sacrifice to God. And Moses writes down this Book of the Covenant, what God has said to the people, the way that God says our relationship is going to work between me, the holy one, and you as my people. Here's the covenant we're gonna make. And they're sacrificing these animals. And Moses is collecting the blood from the animal sacrifice. And Moses, actually, he throws some of the blood from the animals at the altar where the sacrifices were done at the place that represents the presence of God, they're among the people. Moses throws some of the blood at the altar.

[00:24:50] And then he looks at the people here.

[00:24:53] This is in Exodus, Chapter 24, if you want to look at your Bible or if you want to look here on the screen and and Moses took the blood and he threw it on the people guy.

[00:25:04] So he the two parties of the Covenant are both gonna get blood sprinkled on them. And Moses says to the people, hey, here's the commands of the Lord. Here's the covenant of the Lord. Are you ready to keep the commands of the Lord? And the people say, yes, we're ready to keep the commands of the Lord, of course, will live up to his standard. Of course, we'll keep his ten rules. OK, well, let's make a covenant with God and some of the blood gets thrown at the altar. And some of the blood it says that Moses took, he threw it on the people. The people literally get sprinkled with the blood.

[00:25:37] And he said, behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.

[00:25:45] Starting from the Ten Commandments, we have a book of the covenant we have.

[00:25:49] And this is what allows God to interact with his people, as we have both been sprinkled in blood. We have made an oath to one another. God has given his word. And the people have promised to do the work that God tells them to do and to obey his commands. If you've read this book at all. If you know the story of the Old Testament people of Israel, how do they do it? This covenant and keeping God's commands? What do we think?

[00:26:14] I mean, epic failure after epic fail.

[00:26:18] I mean, there's whole books of the Bible where it's just a downward spiral of things getting worse as it tells us the history of Israel. In fact, Joshua, the leader of God's people, when he led them into the promised land and they started saying, we'll keep the commands.

[00:26:33] By that point, Joshua basically says you're not able to give the commands, you're not able to serve the Lord. You guys are really sticking with that same line because that's what the generation before us was saying. And they all died in the wilderness. Like you're really saying you're going to keep the commands. See, the covenant that got established between him and his people was he had commands and the people were supposed to live up to the standard that God called them, too. The people were supposed to live up to God's expectations and they always fell short.

[00:27:06] That's what we do.

[00:27:09] We can't establish our own track record of righteousness. This covenant between God and his people. Eventually the people get sent out of the promised land. They get exiled because they don't keep the commands of the Lord.

[00:27:25] Enter Act three, enter our Lord Jesus Christ. Now we're not at Mt. Sinai. Now we're at Mount Zion. That's what it says in Hebrews Chapter twelve.

[00:27:37] Now, there's a whole different kind of blood that has been scheduled to go back to our verse in Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 24, it says, and to Jesus this new covenant. OK. The sprinkled blood we get that we're starting to see that there's a the blood is the symbol of the covenant between God and his people. We know the blood of Abel that says we have to die. Okay, so there's Jesus and his blood speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

[00:28:05] See, Mount Zion is totally different experience than Mt. Sinai. Mt. Zion is the presence of God.

[00:28:12] It's his very throne room.

[00:28:15] Right now, in the presence of God, there is an innumerable gathering of angels worshiping him.

[00:28:22] There are the souls of all of the saints who have already died in faith, celebrating the the lamb who was slain in our Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:28:35] Says that guys preparing a place for us in a city called the New Jerusalem, and we will dwell there and we will be welcomed in with mercy and grace.

[00:28:43] We don't have to go to Mount Sinai. We get to go to Mount Zion because of this new covenant. This better way through Jesus Christ. And the key that gets us in to the presence of God is this blood.

[00:29:00] In fact, earlier in Hebrews, it's kind of been building up to this in Hebrews for a while. Earlier it said this in Hebrews, Chapter 10, verse 22, it talks about the blood of Jesus.

[00:29:12] We can draw near right into the presence of God. We can have a real relationship with God. We can drawn here with the true HAR in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience. And our bodies washed with pure water. And it said, how can we drawn here into the presence of God? Well, it says because of the blood of Jesus.

[00:29:36] That is entered in through the curtain. That is his body.

[00:29:41] See, the Old Testament, we're talking about a real physical place and real animal sacrifices and blood that had to be shed. In fact, it says in Hebrews that there is no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood. The blood of Abel is still saying that everybody who sins has to.

[00:30:00] It's gonna happen. All of us.

[00:30:04] It's going to happen, all of us.

[00:30:07] And you're saying can't be forgiven without the shedding of blood. There has to be a sacrifice to pay for your sins. You can enter into the presence of God.

[00:30:19] God, look at Hebrews, Chapter nine. Hebrews Chapter nine.

[00:30:24] Let's look at verse 22, which is that what I just said? Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. It's why the people of Israel did these animal sacrifices to remind them that something has to die of. My sin is going to be a tome for if things are going to be made right between me and God. There must be blood to establish a covenant between me and God.

[00:30:50] And then it goes in chapter nine, verse 12. This is what I really want you to see, Hebrews Chapter nine, first 12, referring to Jesus. He entered once for all into the holy places. Not by means of the blood of goats and calves, not through this old covenant sacrificial system, but by means of his own blood.

[00:31:11] Here's the thing. Jesus Christ. He's going to mediate. He's going to go between us and God. And what is the blood of our covenant with God? Gonna be it's gonna be the blood of Jesus Christ.

[00:31:21] He's gonna be the sacrifice. All of these pictures that have been developed from Genesis and Exodus are now gonna be fulfilled in the death of Jesus Christ.

[00:31:33] Verse 13, it goes on to say this for if the blood of goats and bulls, if these animal sacrifices, if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer. If there's some ceremony we can do to sprinkle blood on people. And that makes them clean. Well, then Jesus would need to die if those things where we're able to sanctify for the purification of the flesh. But verse 14 goes on to say, how much more will the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal spirit, offered himself without blemish? You want to talk about a pure sacrifice.

[00:32:08] You want to talk about a spotless lamb Jesus our Lord, when he lived here as a man, the God who was born as a man, the creator who became one of his creatures when he lived. He actually established a perfect track record of righteousness.

[00:32:26] Here was the one who could keep the commands of God. He was the one who could live up to God's perfect standard. He was the one who was not tainted by the fall of sin. And by the blood of Abel.

[00:32:42] Here he is.

[00:32:44] And he offered through the eternal spirit, he offered himself this perfect sacrifice without blemish to God to purify our conscience.

[00:32:53] Here's the key thing from dead works to serve the living God.

[00:32:58] Here's what the blood of Jesus can do for you. Here's what it's trying to say that you need to hear.

[00:33:07] Because every one or every one of us is going to end up. Probably many of us will end up in a seat like this.

[00:33:18] I've been to many of these kind of seats.

[00:33:21] With brothers and sisters at this church, with family members, people who go to this church. People plugged into tubes. They had nurses coming into doing all kinds of tests, taken all kinds of blood, and they're way past thinking about how a needle feels. See, they're not afraid of needles at this point. They're afraid of dying. They're afraid. Of where their sin is going to ultimately take them into death. And they sit in a chair like this.

[00:33:54] And they begin to really seriously consider what is on the other side of that great unknown of death. When my blood stops working, when I lose life, what is going to happen to me when I die? And I've seen people who for the first time, maybe their entire life, they really start to consider. Where their whole life has been taking them from day one. So when you sit in a bed like this and you're thinking about your last days, what have you done with your life that will matter?

[00:34:31] It says here an interesting phrase, that the blood of Jesus can purify us from dead works is where it says, see, in Hebrews this is what we need to repent of.

[00:34:41] This is what we need to turn from.

[00:34:43] We have to find a relationship with the living God because all we have in us is dead works. Or another way you could break it down is works that will ultimately result in death. That is your life. Whoever you love, whatever you do for a living, no matter how many right things, you're able to stack up on top of each other in your resum� of life. At the end of it, the blood of Abels still says the blood of Abel passed down from generation to generation that's within us says we all die.

[00:35:18] Your works at the end of your life. Will not purify you from an evil conscience.

[00:35:26] All that you have ever done at the end of your life.

[00:35:31] Is vanity. That's what the scripture teaches.

[00:35:35] You striving so hard. Chasing after win, trying so hard in your heart to do the right thing. You know where that's getting you. It's works that result in death. People who chase this and they chase that and they love their family and they thought of themself as a good person when they sit in this bed. It means nothing.

[00:36:01] It's all dead works.

[00:36:05] And there is no day that you will be able to look back on in the entire story of your life and you will be able to say, well, look how my work's purified me. Look how what I has done has made it so I won't experience it. The curse of sin in death, you will not save yourself. All of your works are dead. Works in Hebrews. That's what it wants. You do acknowledge.

[00:36:31] You aren't going to die and all of your righteous acts, all of the things that you might try to do in the name of God, even the things that you might try to do out of a genuine care for others, they cannot save you from the curse of sin.

[00:36:48] They cannot reverse the fact that you are going to die. There's only one thing that's ever been done. One work that's ever been accomplished that can purify you from evil and make you write with God. Then the greatest work, the work that has been done. It happened on a Friday.

[00:37:09] And it was the work of Jesus Christ. And when you sit in this bed. At the end of your days. What will matter is if you have admitted your work is dead, but his work can make you alive.

[00:37:25] As you're about to shed your own blood and lose your life from within you, it is only in the blood of Jesus that you can really find life. It's the most precious commodity the world has ever known. The pure righteousness of the blood of Jesus. And you need to hear what it's saying right now. Does it seem to you a better word than all the empty claims you have ever heard upon this Earth? It is saying to you a better word than the blood of Abel. And if you could just ask God to open your ears and if you could just listen for a moment, you could hear that the blood of Jesus says to you, it's already done.

[00:38:12] You don't have to die. He already died for you. The work is done. So what are you cannot trust? You're going to trust in your own works, which will lead you to death. Or you can believe in the blood of Jesus and the work that he has done to give you life. There's two words that you can listen to.

[00:38:43] One says die. The other says done. I'm here to tell you that the blood of Jesus speaks a better word. Can I get any men from anybody on that? It's a better word.

[00:39:01] You need. You need to hear what Jesus Christ. Is saying the blood of Cain when Cain killed Abel, the blood of Abel crying out to the ground for justice. Crying out to God from the ground. Justice is what is required. Justice. And even that cry going from generation to generation until the people who killed Jesus had their blood on them and their children. You know what? The blood of Jesus also cries out justice.

[00:39:33] But it's been done.

[00:39:35] It's not something that God will require of you. It's something that's been fulfilled by his son, Jesus Christ. See the blood of Jesus. It's telling you a better word. I been saying it from the beginning, from the first murder, from the first covenant with his people, from the very stuff that courses through your veins and gives you life.

[00:40:00] He's trying to tell you a better word.

[00:40:04] There is life in the blood of Jesus Christ. I just want to encourage my brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, as you live for Christ, as you love Jesus, as you remember what he's done.

[00:40:19] And it motivates you to share that good news with others and to live a wholly purified life, to draw near into your relationship with God. Like you can go to Mount Zion today to worship God.

[00:40:35] Thank you, Father, for giving your one and only son whom you loved, forgiving your son as a sacrifice for our sin. His blood giving us life. We can go right to God and we can worship. And we need to see the name of Jesus is exalted, so high, it's so pure, it's so magnified. And when you see Jesus high and lifted up, you will find yourself at the foot of his cross ready to worship him.

[00:41:03] That's where you need to be. So what I what I see happen with my brothers and sisters, people who really care about Jesus, they believe what we're saying is they get caught up in works. They get caught up in trying to do so much.

[00:41:21] And they get focused sometimes more on what they're doing than one on Jesus Christ has already done. And we are supposed to, as the people who believe in Jesus have repented of dead works.

[00:41:35] We've stopped thinking that we can do it because apart from Christ, we can do nothing. Can I get Nayman from anybody on this? So let's not go back to thinking our works are going to get us into this relationship with God. We're going to earn right. Standing with God that we can somehow be good people if we just get our act together and try a little harder. No.

[00:41:58] That's what we left behind when we trusted in the work that Jesus has already done. So we just need to remember Jesus Christ.

[00:42:09] And we will find power in his finished work and not in the things that we are trying to do in our own strength. So I want to just encourage my brothers and sisters, remember, whose work you're trusting in.

[00:42:24] Ain't yours?

[00:42:27] And I want to say to those who are outside the family right now, because you haven't believed in the blood of Jesus yet. And I say, yes, because my prayer for you, as God has brought you here this evening, my prayer is that tonight you would hear the better word and you would believe that Jesus, by shedding his blood, is the sacrifice for your son to bring you into a new covenant, a better covenant between you and God.

[00:42:54] And that tonight would be the night you hear the blood of Jesus speak and you believe that in him there is salvation. And I just got to tell you that this verse we've been looking at, can we put Hebrews 12 24 on their Hebrews 12, 24. This is the verse we've been looking at all night.

[00:43:13] But now maybe we have a better understanding that, Jesus, he's got this new relationship between us and God, this new blood covenant through his spring sprinkled blood. And it speaks such a better word than the blood of Abel.

[00:43:27] We've we've that offer we've been trying to make that clear. We've traced it into three different acts to see how God has been moving this story of blood right to us so that we could hear the word of the blood of Jesus. And believe in it here tonight. Well, there's a warning.

[00:43:42] This sermon comes with a warning label attached.

[00:43:46] Look what it says in the very next verse. This is Hebrews 12, verse 25. It says, See that you do not refuse him. Who is speaking?

[00:43:56] See, the blood of Jesus is crying out and it's telling you it's done.

[00:44:01] Selling you you could lay down that burden. You could seize your striving. You could stop thinking that your works are going to get you anywhere and you could transfer your trust to what Jesus has done and make sure you don't refuse. Make sure you don't decline him. Who is speaking? Because the blood of Jesus, that's speaking a better word to you. That's Jesus himself.

[00:44:26] It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't stay dead. No, on the third day, he rose and he is right now at the right hand of God.

[00:44:35] Jesus has been exalted to the highest place. He is the name above all names. And you're going to meet the one who shed his blood for you someday.

[00:44:44] And you're going to have heard the better word, you're going to have heard the offer.

[00:44:52] And to see to it that you do not refuse the one who is speaking. Because you're going to speak to him face to face. You're going to speak to him again.

[00:45:00] Don't refuse the one who is speaking for half day, the people of Israel who got judged because they didn't live up to the old covenant. If they did not escape when they refused him, who warned them on Earth, much less will we escape if we reject him?

[00:45:14] Who warns from half?

[00:45:19] Jesus is trying to get your attention here tonight. And he wants you to hear what he's already done for you.

[00:45:25] So you will simply surrender your life to him, turned from your dead works and find a life where you can serve the living God, a life where when you lie in this bed at the end of it, it will have meant something. The works that Christ will have done in you. Well, he will have done through you and other people. You'll be able to look back and you'll be able to say that Jesus did something with my life. It wasn't empty. It wasn't in vain.

[00:45:50] And you will enter into the presence of God and you will see Jesus who brought you into that relationship. And he will say to you. Well done, good and faithful servant.

[00:46:03] Because you repented of your dead works and you began to serve Jesus Christ. There's another warning. Not only does it say, hey, make sure you don't refuse him, who is speaking? But then he goes on to say. Because his kingdom won't be shaken. And this world judgment is coming.

[00:46:22] It's going to be shaken. But the kingdom of Jesus, the work that he has done that secure. It's not going to be shaken his kingdom. So make sure that you worship him with ah and reverence for our God is a consuming.

[00:46:41] To right now. We're in this window of time, this this time of opportunity that's available to us only for a limited time where we can hear the blood of Jesus saying that he's already done it.

[00:46:54] And we can believe in it. And we can leave behind the dead works and we can start to serve Jesus Christ and we can make the most of these evil days of our lives. And we can see God redeem them and use us for good. But at some point, see.

[00:47:12] It's going to go back to fire and thunder and lightning and a trumpet sound, and you're gonna say, I don't want to hear from Jesus now. I don't want to be near him. A consuming fire. And so you have a chance right now. To hear the better word. To hear what Jesus has done and believe in it.

[00:47:35] I want you to take this seriously. I want you to really think this through. That someone shed their blood, donated their blood to give you life, and you're going to refuse it. Really?

[00:47:49] Wants you to really think that through. Please don't refused the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

[00:47:58] And what we're gonna do right now for my brothers and sisters who believe in Jesus is we're gonna take communion, I'm gonna ask the ushers to go and get the communion ready, because that's why we're here, is to remember the Lord's death, to give thanks to him, to see him high and lifted up, to worship him for shedding his blood.

[00:48:16] And every time we partake of communion, we proclaim the Lord's death until he what, he's coming back. See, when he comes back, he's not going to come back and be like. Final offer. Right.

[00:48:31] He's not going to pull a Paula Regis and be like.

[00:48:33] Is that your final answer? There's not going to be dramatic music. You're not going to be sitting in a hot seat. No, you're going to have already had this opportunity right here.

[00:48:43] And when he comes back. Jesus is a consuming fire.

[00:48:50] And he's going to judge because that cry of justice still goes up the blood of Abel. It's still speaking the blood of Jesus. It's speaking. Who were you going to listen to? So to all of us who have transferred our trust to the better word of the blood of Jesus. This is for us. This is for us to remember what he did on that Good Friday when he shed his blood. You're going to drink something. A little cup. And as you drink this, you are drinking.

[00:49:21] The blood that was shed, that started a covenant between you and God that purified you from dead works. It purified you from an evil conscience, and it brought you into a new and better way to know God. It brought you right into his presence. And we do this to remember the blood of Jesus Christ.

[00:49:40] Ralph's going to have a little piece of bread to remember his body that was sacrificed for us. And this is for my brothers and sisters. This is for those who believe if you don't believe, you don't need the symbol, you need the real thing. You need to believe in Jesus Christ here tonight. So let me pray for us as we get ready for this time of communion.

[00:50:00] Father in heaven, we want to praise you and we want to thank you right now that the blood of Jesus tells us the work is done.

[00:50:09] God. Thank you so much for doing the work that we could never do, that all of our works would still result in death because of the curse of our sin.

[00:50:20] But God, thank you. At the work Jesus has done by shedding his blood. Thank you that it speaks to us. Thank you.

[00:50:32] That we can no forgiveness of our sins, that we can know this relationship with you. And it's all because of your love that was poured out for us through the blood of your son, Jesus, that was shed on Good Friday. God, please work in our hearts.

[00:50:46] God. But this good news of the blood of Jesus. Never be old news to us. God, let us hear you saying to us through the blood of Jesus a better word. We pray this in his name. Emma.

[00:51:31] Accusation.

[00:51:59] The. Has been.

[00:52:13] Is my.

[00:52:32] Will speak.

[00:52:40] For the.

[00:52:50] Unfaithful. I.

[00:53:04] The.

[00:53:09] The class has been.

[00:53:19] That is my last.

[00:53:38] No.

[00:53:51] Is.

[00:54:03] You can see.

[00:54:23] To.

[00:54:48] Roof is. The.

[00:54:56] Has been.

[00:55:02] To us is proof. Sure.

[00:55:09] He spoke up.