CaryCOG | Cary Church of God
Pastor Jensen brings us part II of: "Power in the Blood"
Hebrews 10:20-22 NKJV
I. There is Power in the Blood to Make a Way (10:20)
a. After the assertion is given in verse 19 concerning the access the blood of Christ provides, the author of Hebrews emphasizes a new and living way.
b. Now much can be said about this new and living way. Certainly it is historically the flesh of Christ as the verse goes on to reveal for the believer.
c. The gospel of John gives us further insight into this new and living way.
d. This is again noted in the gospel of John in the verse we all know so well, but let us hear it again!
e. Finally, we have established that the new and living way is mediated by the body of our Lord. And that this way thus established by His body necessarily involves truth and life. However, what of our current application in terms of both eternal but also immediate salvation. For this I would like for us to recall the prophet Isaiah, as He is looking upon this day hundreds of years prior.
Quote:
This hill, though high, I covet to ascend; The difficulty will not me offend. For I perceive the way to life lies here. Come, pluck up, heart; let's neither faint nor fear. Better, though difficult, the right way to go, Than wrong, though easy, where the end is woe.
John Bunyan, "The Pilgrim's Progress"
Quote:
It Is Not Possible to Believe in Victory over Satan by the Blood without Being Myself Brought Entirely under its Power. Belief in the power of the blood awakens in me a desire for an experience of its power in myself; each experience of its power makes belief in victory more glorious.
Andrew Murray
II. There is Power in the Blood to Create a New Priesthood (10:21)
a. The blood of Christ not only verifies Christ as the one High Priest once and for all but punctuates His status as He does not offer the blood of lambs but His own blood.
b. The house of God, is the tabernacle in heaven, which is a new order of priesthood, the one after Melchizedek. Let us look further at this new order in Hebrews 7.
III. There is Power in the Blood to Sanctify our Conscience (10:22)
a. If we are honest with ourselves, our guilt conscience prevents us from drawing near to Christ. We often hear or say the old adage, “I will come to Christ as soon as I start living right.” O foolish deception from the evil serpent! You cannot live right unless you come to Christ. You come in your weakness and sin, He delivers you and imparts the Holy Spirit who then gives you strength unto holy living. Do not believe the old lie, it is powerless, it foolish and it will not work! Come now to rely on the blood of Christ, and He will sanctify your guilty conscience.
b. The sprinkling imagery used by the author of Hebrews is no doubt an allusion to the High Priest who would sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice in the most holy place upon the ark. Just as this made atonement for Israel once a year, the blood of Christ made atonement for you once and for all and not only to save you but to sanctify you and cleanse your conscience from evil imaginations!
c. And what does this mean, the sprinkling of consciences? Is it a mere internal work? No, it is more comprehensive than this. The author of Hebrews clarifies this for us earlier in chapter 9 when he says: "For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Hebrews 9:13-14
d. In summary, there is power in the blood of Christ to make a way where there is no way, to create and ratify and eternal priesthood, and to sanctify us fully as apply the
blood of Christ by faith. Thus, if you feel that your back stands against the wall and there is seemingly now way through. If you feel there is no one who understands, not one who will stand as an advocate, no one who will mediate. If you feel the depth of guilt, the pain of sin, the stain of dead of works, the dulling of your conscience, plead the blood of Christ now and be renewed in this faith and sanctified by His blood. There is power in the blood of Jesus!
Quote:
Reconciliation, pardon, and cleansing from sin, have all an unspeakable value; they all, however, point onwards to sanctification. It is God’s will that each one who has been marked by the precious blood, should know that it is a divine mark, characterizing his entire separation to God; that this blood calls him to an undivided consecration to a life, wholly for God, and that this blood is the promise, and the power of a participation in God’s holiness, through which God Himself will make His abiding place in him, and be his God.
Andrew Murray