Title: The Three Applications of the Blood
Text: Leviticus 16: 17-19
Date: November 7, 2010
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Two things are very unpopular to speak about in most worship services in our day: sin and blood. Yet, it is impossible to preach the gospel without declaring the truth about sin and the truth about the blood.
Were it not for sin, no blood would have ever been shed. Were it not for the shedding of blood, no sin would have ever been put away.
In the garden, sin entered.
Romans 5:12:…by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
In the garden, God declared the only way that sin is put away and his children clothed in God's righteousness:
Genesis 3:21: Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Were it not for sin, Christ's blood would have never been shed. Were it not for the shedding of Christ's blood, no sin would have ever been put away.
The LORD God gave the law, the sacrifices, to declare this:
Hebrews 9: 22: And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Leviticus 17:11: For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
As we prepare our hearts to eat the bread and to drink the wine at the Lord's Table, I want to show you three applications of the blood of Christ. I want to show you this from Leviticus 16.
The Blood Within the Veil
Leviticus 16: 15: Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat: 16: And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins:
The Blood Within the Tabernacle
Leviticus 16: 15:…and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. 17: And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel.
The Blood Upon the Altar
Leviticus 16: 18: And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. 19: And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.
These are the three applications of the blood. They typifiy the three applications of the blood of Christ Jesus the Lord.
1. The Blood Was Applied in the Holiest of Holies
2. Within the Tabernacle
3. Upon the Altar.
I. The Blood Within the Veil
A. The holiest of holies--within the veil--represented the presence of God in heaven itself.
Within the veil was the ark of the covenant--God made an everlasting covenant with himself before the world began. In that physical ark of covenant was the broken law. Over it was the mercy seat.
In order for God to mercy and remain just, the soul on whom God shows mercy has got to die. The wages of sin is death. Life is in the blood. This goat died in the place of the children of Israel--in type, for one more year--it atoned God so that he did not destroy the children of Israel.
B. This slain goat is a type of Christ Jesus the Son of God.
He agreed in the covenant of grace to die in place of those given to him of the Father--God's Israel. The goat had to be spotless--Christ is the spotless Lamb of God. Because Christ was spotless he was fit to have the sin of God's people laid upon him.
2 Corinthians 5:21: For he hath made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
The blood of the goat was sprinkled before the mercy seat as--an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins. On that day, every one of the children of Israel had their sins atoned for because that goat died instead of them dying.
What did that foreshadow?
C. By his own blood, Christ Jesus finished this work. He entered into God's presence. He made complete satisfaction for the sins of every sinner for whom he died.
Hebrews 9:12: Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 24: For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: 25: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; 26: For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27: And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
Christ satisfied divine justice through his one offering--he cried, "IT IS FINISHED!" (John 19: 30.) The same justice which demanded Christ die, demands that those for whom he died, receive the good news that they are justified. God can not, and will not, punish those for whom Christ died because his justice is satisfied for them. Christ "hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us"; Christ has "obtained eternal redemption" for each sinner for whom he died (Galatians 3: 13; Hebrews 9:12-26.) THAT IS WHAT WAS PICTURED WITHIN THE VEIL.
II. The Blood Within the Tabernacle
Leviticus 16: 15:…and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness.
After the High Priest applied the blood in the holiest of holies, he came out to the next room in the tabernacle which was called the holy place.
A. This is a shadow of Christ applying the blood to the hearts of those for whom he died.
Every child whom Christ purchased with his own blood shall be born again of the Spirit of God. This is how we are taught of God that we are justified and complete in Christ. Our body is the tabernacle, the temple.
1 Co 6: 19: What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost [which is] in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20: For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
2 Corinthians 6:16: And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in [them]; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
In this part of that earthly tabernacle, the priests served under the High Priest. Christ is the High Priest and those born of his Spirit are priests unto God.
1 Peter 2:9: But ye [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
B. Not only has the blood of Christ made satisfaction to God in God's presence, but through the Spirit, his blood is applied within us--purging our conscious from dead works to serve Christ.
Hebrews 9:13: For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to 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, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Jeremiah 31:33: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
1 Corinthians 2:12: Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God….14: But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned.
The blood of Christ made effectual atonement in God's presence in the holiest of holies, and also, the blood of Christ purges the sinner's conscious from dead works to serve the living God through the Holy Spirit.
III. The Blood Upon the Altar
Leviticus 16: 18: And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. 19: And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.
The altar is where the priests brought their sacrifices, their offerings, their gifts. It was the blood on the altar that made those offerings holy so that God accepted them as perfect.
A. Our worship, our singing, our prayers, any works we perform in gratitude to our God--all must be perfect or God will not accept them.
Leviticus 22:21: And whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD to accomplish [his] vow, or a freewill offering in beeves or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish therein.
Yet, sin is mixed with all we do. How then can God accept anything the believer does?
B. Christ is our Altar whose blood makes even the believer's worship holy from our uncleanness
Hebrews 13: 9: Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For [it is] a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein. 10: We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
The only way we present our bodies one living sacrifice unto God--holy, acceptable unto God--is upon Christ our Altar whose blood cleanses even our worship and prayers and thanksgiving.
Do you see why the believer delights to hear about the blood of Christ.
1. Within the veil--he has made satisfaction to God for our sins by his blood.
2. Within these bodies--his blood has purged our conscious from dead works to serve him
3. Upon Christ our Altar--his blood makes our service to him holy and accepted of Holy God.
In closing:
I want us to read again, Hebrews 10: 1-25.
Luke 22: 19: And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake [it], and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. 20: Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup [is] the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
AMEN