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Well, it's great to be here. Service is moving kind of fast this morning and the sermon's already starting. This is one of those days where you did the right thing by being on time because you don't miss the beginning of the sermon. This morning, I am preaching on the blood of Jesus Christ. And if you would, turn in your Bible to Acts chapter 20. We're going to start there in Acts chapter 20. The blood of Jesus Christ. We just sang the song, What Can Wash Away My Sins? But the blood of Jesus. You probably noticed that there are lots and lots of songs in the hymnal about the blood of Jesus Christ. And let me tell you, that is a reflection of how much this idea is emphasized in the Word of God. It's not just that songwriters got a little bit carried away on the subject of the blood. But rather, we're going to see this morning verse after verse after verse emphasizes the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the first thing I want to point out is something about Christ's blood that a lot of people unfortunately have lost sight of or are confused about or just false prophets have taught something that isn't true about this. But I want to show you that Christ's blood is divine. All right, Christ's blood is divine. Look what the Bible says there in Acts chapter 20 verse 28. The Bible reads, Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost have made you overseers to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. Notice that God purchased the church with his own blood. Now this should be common sense anyway that Christ's blood is divine because Christ himself is divine. Of course we know that there's the Father, there's the Son, there's the Holy Ghost and these three are one. And of course the Bible says that God was manifest in the flesh, right? We beheld his glory. He walked among us on this earth as God in the flesh. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word was God. So we know that Christ is divine, okay? But some people would say, well, you know, but his body is, you know, his body is a human part and, you know, his soul is a God part or whatever. And they'll try to separate this and try to say, well, you know, that's just part of him is divine but then his body isn't. Well, let's examine that from the scripture and see what the Bible actually says. But before we do, I want to read some quotes from a damnable heretic near you which is John MacArthur who is one of the worst false teachers in America. He's one of the worst false teachers in history and in fact one of the false doctrines that you and I are often fighting against is lordship salvation, right? Because we believe that salvation is by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, he already died on the cross for our sins, he was buried, he rose again and we just need to put our faith and trust in the finished work of Christ to be saved, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. But then there's this idea of lordship salvation that says, well, you have to make Jesus the Lord of your life and you have to be willing to obey him and follow him and it's really just a very thinly veiled works-based salvation. Well, I don't know if you know this but John MacArthur is literally the architect of this idea of lordship salvation in our modern time. That term was coined about him. It's literally about John MacArthur, okay? He is just one who teaches a hardcore works-based salvation but not only does he teach a total works-based salvation, he's also a Calvinist, he's also pre-trib, you know, okay, that's not his worst problem. But anyway, listen to these statements that he made about the blood of Christ and he has over the years dug in on these statements, he did not repent of these statements but he has reiterated these even decades later. Here's what he said, quote, it was his death that was efficacious, not his blood. Christ did not bleed to death. The shedding of blood had nothing to do with bleeding, it simply means death. Listen to this, this is what John MacArthur said, nothing in his human blood saves. So John MacArthur is saying nothing in Christ's human blood saves. Now last time I checked that's the only, how many bloods does he have? How many bloods of Christ's earth? There's just the blood of Jesus. There's nothing in his human blood that saves. It is not his blood that I love, it's him. It's not his bleeding that saves me but his dying. And then he says this, flip over if you would in your Bible to Revelation chapter 1, Revelation chapter 1, he says, I may add a note on Revelation 1 verse 5, a passage which is confusing in the King James Version. The word washed is not correct, the Greek word is delivered. Now let's see if Revelation 1, 5 is confusing in the King James, let's see if anybody gets confused when we read this. And from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth, watch this, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Now is anybody confused right now? Sounds like the blood of Christ saves. So he washed us from our sins in his own blood. Now he says, oh the word washed is not correct, the Greek word is delivered. He's trying to make it sound like the King James translated it wrong but here's what's really going on is that the traditional Greek text says washed and then the fake Westcott and Hort bogus counterfeit brand new text from the 19th century says delivered. It's two different texts because in the original language it's only a difference of one letter and so you change one letter, you change washed to delivered. The King James is translating the traditional Greek text. So he says, well the Greek, he's got the wrong Greek, he's got a corrupt modern text, not the traditional text that we've had for centuries. Here's what he said a decade later just to show no repentance. A decade later he said, in recent months I've noticed there is an encroaching heresy on the blood. That there are people who say that the blood of Jesus was not human, it was divine. Now here's the thing, of course Christ's blood is both human and divine and this is the stupidity of this kind of either or mentality. Is it human or is it divine? Well is Jesus human or is Jesus divine? Jesus is both. Jesus is 100% God and 100% man so why do we have to choose between his blood being human or divine? Well I'm going to explain both and I'm going to explain how in a moment. One pastor said to me, this is John MacArthur speaking, one pastor said to me he had the blood of God. I said what is the blood of God? He said divine blood and of course he fails to point out the verse that that pastor used which was Acts 20-28 which we just read. God purchased the church with his own blood. I said God is a spirit. That was the blood of Christ. That was the blood of a man. He was 100% man. It's heretical to call the blood of Jesus Christ the blood of God and demonstrates a failure to understand what theologians have called the hypostatic union that is the God-man union in Christ. I don't care how a bunch of baby baptizing, work salvation, pagan idolatrous Catholics have explained how God or how Jesus Christ can be both God, 100% God and 100% man. I don't care what they say. They're not, they're in hell. They're not saved. What I care is what the Bible teaches. What I care is that Acts 20-28 says is the blood of God and even common sense would tell us that if Jesus Christ is born of a virgin then his body can't just be 100% human and not divine at all. That doesn't even work. How does that work? Like how do you get, somebody explain to me how you can get a 100% human being with no divinity in his flesh out of a virgin because that sounds like just half the equation of what we need for a human, right? Because you know, let me just explain the birds and the bees real quick, okay? In order to have a baby, you got to have a mother and a father, okay? You can't just have a woman produce a child by herself. Now, here's the thing, in 2023 we actually understand the science behind this way more than the baby baptizers from 1500 some odd years ago understood and so this should be super clear to us in 2023 because in order for you to be a human being, you know what you have to have? You have to have human DNA. You know, every cell of your body contains DNA and DNA is the blueprint of life. It's the blueprint of everything about you as a human and here's what's interesting. Every cell of your body contains all of your DNA which is why the police could just take one little scrape of the inside of your cheek and boom, they have all your DNA. They don't just have, well, we know what his mouth is like. No, no, no, they have your whole DNA, all of your DNA. And here's the thing about your DNA, half of your DNA comes from your mom and half of your DNA comes from your dad, okay? So in order to be human, in order to be a physical, walking, breathing human being, you have to have a full set of DNA. A half set of DNA is not gonna work. You have to have, and you can only get half from your mom. You can't get both from your mom. You can get half from your mom and you get half from your dad. Is everybody following? This isn't even complicated, okay? Well here's the thing about that is that Jesus Christ is the son of Mary. That's where half his DNA came from, right? Came from mom, easy to understand. Where did the other half of his DNA come from? I'm talking about his physical body. How could Jesus be born of a virgin? Because he got the other half of his DNA from his father who is God. And you know what that means? That means every single cell in Christ's body was both human and divine because it is this inseparable marriage of human and divine in every last cell of his body. Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human and even his physical body is fully God. Now a bunch of philosophers will come along and explain why that can't be or whatever. Don't let anybody spoil you with philosophy, the Bible says. Bunch of Roman Catholic philosophers or a bunch of Sodomite Greek philosophers, we don't care what they say, we only care what the Bible says. Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. Jesus Christ physically was born. Mary asked the question in the Gospel of Luke, if you want to turn to Luke chapter 1 and I'm going to hurry up and move on from this point, but if you go to Luke chapter 1, Mary asked the question, how is this going to work? You know, how am I, a virgin, going to give birth to a child? How is this going to work? And the Bible tells us in Luke chapter 1 verse 31, this is before she asked, Luke chapter 1 verse 31, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb. Notice what the Bible's not saying. The Bible's not saying that God's just teleporting a body into her womb. She's going to conceive in her womb. She is going to conceive in her womb. So is Jesus her actual physical child or not? He's conceiving in her womb a baby. Mary is the mother of Jesus. Jesus is literally the son of man. He's literally the son of Adam. He's the son of Abraham. He's the son of David. He's the son of Mary. He is physically conceived in the womb of Mary. Then it says in verse 34, then said Mary unto the angel, how shall this be, saying I know not a man. You know, how am I going to conceive in my womb without a man? Verse 35, the angel answered and said unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee, therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. So there's going to be a divine intervention. The Holy Ghost is going to come upon you. The power of the highest is going to overshadow you. And that's how you're going to conceive. That's where the other half of the DNA is coming from. That's why he's going to be called the Son of God, because he's got Mary on one side. He's got God the Father on the other side. And boom, Jesus Christ is both human and divine. This is what the Bible actually teaches. Now, MacArthur is saying his blood is not divine. It's heretical to say that his blood is not divine. And I don't care how many baby baptizing Presbyterians are saying it, it's still heretical. It's a stupid statement. It's not biblical. It doesn't make any sense. And it's absurd to say, well, Jesus is born of a virgin, but his flesh is 100% human. Then where'd the other half of the DNA come from? And I've asked this to Presbyterians. They can't give me an answer, because there is no answer. And whatever answer they give is, I'm sure, going to be just some made-up philosophical answer. Now, if you would flip over to Leviticus chapter 17 in your Bible, Leviticus chapter 17. Now, I will say this. Some preachers have mistakenly gone the other way and said, oh, well, Christ's blood isn't human. It's only divine. This is not true, because Christ is both human and divine. His blood is part of his body. So his blood is human and divine. Guess what's in every blood cell? DNA. Your DNA is in your blood, too. But not only that, you probably, even without having a science background, know something about blood types. We're all pretty familiar with the idea of a blood type. The blood types are either A or B or AB or O. And then on top of that, they can either be positive or negative. My blood type is O negative. So here's the thing about that. My blood type is determined by both of my parents. You can actually use blood. Before they had DNA paternity testing, they would use blood type to figure out whose parent was who just by the blood type. Because if you have an A individual and a B individual, and that's what they give, that's the allele they give, A from one parent, B from the other, you're going to be AB. If you get an A and an O, you're going to be A blood type. If you get a B and an O, you're going to be B. You get two Os, but it's based on both parents. Everybody follow? Both parents. Okay? You get a positive and a negative, you're going to be positive, right? If you get two negatives, you're negative. It's based on both parents. Okay? So I've heard a lot of Baptist preachers say, well, his blood came 100% from his father. His blood came 100% from God. And they had some science book that they were claiming taught that. But common sense should tell us, we all know that our blood type is based on both of our parents. So common sense should tell us that just like the whole rest of his body, guess what? His blood came from both parents. It came from Mary and it came from God. Okay? It's just common sense, folks, that he's born of a virgin. He's got to get the other half of his physical body from somewhere. He got it from God. He's the son of God and he's the son of man. And so saying that his blood is not divine is a major error because then what you end up with is, you know, well, Jesus' body isn't divine and that's a stupid, false, wrong doctrine that doesn't jive with scripture because he's born of a virgin. And you end up with, you know, the human blood of Christ. And what did MacArthur say specifically, because we're going to rattle through a whole bunch of verses in a minute. He specifically said he doesn't love the blood of Christ. He said, I don't love the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ doesn't save you. There's nothing in his human blood that saves. And that he basically said that Christ's blood just pretty much went into the ground and that was it. It's just blood, folks. Nothing to see here. And then he said that the reason that we have this thing about the blood of Christ is just from the music. That basically we grow up singing nothing but the blood, washed in the blood. And that's what gave us this thing about the blood and loving the blood of Christ. But he says it's not from the Bible. Let's see if it's from the Bible. Look what the Bible says in Leviticus chapter number 1711, and then I'm going to read for you a whole bunch of verses. Don't try to turn to them all because you're not going to be able to keep up. Leviticus 17 verse 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. Now that is significant. And in this context he's telling them, go ahead and eat the meat, eat the drumsticks, eat the breast, eat the shoulder. But he said, don't eat blood because the blood is the life. So he's saying, you know, particularly unique is this part of the body. It's not just like the rest of the body, no. The blood is the life thereof and I have specifically given the blood as an atonement for your soul. So to sit there and then turn around and say, oh, the blood doesn't save you, it's just human blood. And he says that whenever we see the word blood, you know, we can pretty much just understand in a context of salvation that we're just talking about Jesus dying for us. No, no, no, there's something special about the blood of Jesus Christ that saves. Listen to these verses. You don't have to turn to all these, but the Bible says in Romans 3.25, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. Romans 5.9, much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Ephesians 1.7, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. Ephesians 2.13, but now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Now look, if the blood of Christ isn't what saves us, if the blood of Christ doesn't save us, then why does the Bible say that it gives us remission of sins in Romans 3.25, justification in Romans 5.9, redemption in Ephesians 1.7, and it brings us nigh unto Christ in Ephesians 2.13. That sounds like salvation. If sins are forgiven, you're being brought nigh to Christ, you have forgiveness, redemption, justification. Those are all words for being saved, and it's all through the blood of Christ. Well, it's just his death in general. I thought it was specifically as a body part. It's the blood that I have given as an atonement. The blood is the life thereof, therefore don't eat blood. But yet, we have these theologians who come along with these crazy things. And to me, what kind of a demoniac just gets up and says, I don't love the blood of Christ? What does it take to even have such a stupid thought like that in your head? And if you did have that kind of a stupid thought in your head, well, I don't love the blood of Christ, and I don't think the blood saves, and I think we're making too much of a big deal about the blood. Then you'd think when a thousand people pointed it out to you, you'd say, okay, yeah, I got a little carried away there. But no. The reason why he didn't take it back, the reason why he's dug in all these decades later, the reason why is because of the fact that he's not alone. Because I grew up thinking, well, John MacArthur's just alone in this bizarre heresy of denying the blood of Christ. No, it turns out that all kinds of Protestants are out there with the same junk saying, oh, Christ's body isn't divine. You got Manly Perry saying that Christ's body isn't divine, for crying out loud, right? You got all these people out there that are saying this stuff. You got Protestants who are saying this stuff. They're all wrong. It doesn't matter how many people are saying it, my friend. It's absurd, it's unbiblical, it's denying of just the science of what a human being even is, and it does not come from the Bible. There's nowhere in the Bible that says, well, Christ's blood isn't divine. Christ's body isn't divine. There's nothing like that in the Bible. But some philosopher told them that. Some geek who basically was celibate might have even mutilated himself in a monastery somewhere, who's basically, his hobbies are beer, chanting, and reading philosophy. And that's who's going to tell us about our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I'd rather listen to Baptist preachers who are actually saved expound the Bible to me, like spirit-filled, soul-winning Christians expounding the Bible, not a bunch of baby baptizing philosophers from the Dark Ages to tell me what the Bible means. But let's keep going because we've barely even scratched the surface here. Colossians 1.14, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Of course, the modern versions will remove from his blood from this verse. They remove multiple references to the blood, and they will change the verse that says washed in the blood to just delivered by the blood, and then they'll say, well, and then they'll put a footnote, blood means death, right? In fact, the United Methodist Church removed their blood songs from their hymnal because they said we don't want to have a bloody religion. But folks, the New Testament is filled with this idea of salvation through the blood of Christ. Colossians 1.20, and having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, he's reconciling everything to himself through his blood, the Bible says. Hebrews 10, he that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite in the spirit of grace. Now, this verse doesn't refer to John MacArthur at all, because you'd have to be actually saved for this verse to apply to you. You'd have to actually believe in salvation by faith alone in order for this verse to apply to you because it says that they're basically counting the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing. We've actually been sanctified and if we go out and sin willfully and do all these things, we're basically counting the blood of the covenant wherewith we were sanctified an unholy thing. But you know, John MacArthur, who's not even saved, he just comes out and just says that the blood's an unholy thing, because what does the word holy even mean? Holy means set apart, sanctified. But no, it's just ordinary human blood that just spilled into the ground and meant nothing, it's just human blood, there's nothing in Christ's human blood that can save. You know what he's saying, it's not holy. He's just another guy, another guy's blood, just the blood of a man. No it's the man, the God-man, Jesus Christ, 100% man, 100% God. You say well his body's 100% human, amen. But in every cell of his body is God's DNA, divine, divinity, every single cell is both human and divine. He's human and divine through and through, can't be separated. You can't separate, like can you separate me into the dad part and the mom part? Like well, you know, this hand, this is, I mean this is my mom's hand right here. That's why, you know, my hands are kind of small because I got my mom's hands, you know. But this hand, I mean this is my dad right here, you know. And you know my foot is more, that's absurd because literally every part of my body is both, every cell of my body is both from mom, both from dad. And so, and you say well that's a wrong illustration, it's not an illustration, this literally is not an illustration, this is reality, Jesus is literally the product of two parents. I mean it's not an illustration folks, it's just, it's just a thing. Okay the Bible says of course, 1 Peter 1 to elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit and obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, why? Because the blood was sprinkled in the Old Testament upon the altar, we're going to get to that in a moment. For as much as you know, 1 Peter 1.18, that you are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Apparently Christ's blood is incorruptible, apparently it's incorruptible. Now my blood is corruptible, it's going to decay, it's going to be gone, it's going to, you know, if I die before Christ returns, my blood is just going to go into the earth and break down and decay and decompose and corrupt and be gone. But Christ's blood is incorruptible, Christ's blood is eternal, Christ's blood is divine. The Bible says in 1 John 1.7, but if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. This is He that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ. Not by water only, but by water and blood. What does that even mean? Well the blood is just a bodily fluid, it just means He died folks. Then why is it saying, not by water only? Don't forget the blood. By water and blood. It is the Spirit that beareth witness because the Spirit is truth for there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one and there are three that bear witness in the earth, the Spirit and the water and the blood and these three agree in one. Revelation 5, 9, thou has redeemed us to God by thy blood. Revelation 7, 14, they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Revelation 12, 11, they overcame Him by the blood of the Lamb. When Christ returns, He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood and His name is called the Word of God. So do you think that we got this fascination with the blood from a bunch of songs or do you think maybe there are a lot of songs because there's a lot of material in the New Testament from which to derive songs? I mean there's a lot of raw material here to make a lot of hymns about the blood. That's why there's a whole section in our hymnal called the blood. It's literally one of the chapters in the hymnal. Now go to Hebrews chapter 9. We blasted through a whole bunch of verses. Now let's slow down and actually settle into one passage here. Hebrews chapter number 9. Now you say why is this important? Why are we making such a big deal about this? Is this just about exposing John MacArthur as a heretic? I mean we could have exposed John MacArthur as a heretic just based on his salvation doctrine alone. salvation heresy is bad enough. But no, it's because he's not alone on this. This is a false doctrine that is out there. It's a false doctrine that's prevalent. It's an attack on the virgin birth. It's an attack on the blood of Jesus Christ. It's a foolish doctrine and here's the thing. We as independent fundamentalist Baptists, we need to know what we believe. We need to know why we believe it. We need to be solid on biblical doctrine because we don't know which heresy is going to pop up even amongst ourselves. Why? Because Paul said that even amongst your own selves grievous wolves, he said grievous wolves will come in from outside but then he said even amongst yourselves there will be men that rise up and teach perverse doctrines. And so we need to be sober. We need to be vigilant and we need to see this coming. Somebody starts downplaying the blood of Christ or telling us that Christ isn't divine or part of Christ isn't divine or something like that and hitting us with this weird doctrine, we should just right away have all these verses in our mind and thinking, nope, this person's a liar. I know what the Bible says. I know how the blood of Christ is so significant. But you say, okay, well what is the specific actual significance of the literal blood that Jesus shed on the cross when he died for us 2,000 years ago? Well, let's read Hebrews chapter 9 beginning in verse 11. The Bible reads, but Christ being come, a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say not of this building. Now notice the Bible talks about a greater and a more perfect tabernacle. Now what's the tabernacle? The tabernacle is the physical building that the Old Testament Israelites used to worship God and make animal sacrifices, right? It was a big tent and it had an altar. It was a literal physical building. The Bible is talking about a greater and more perfect tabernacle, better than that physical building they had in the Old Testament. He says in verse 12, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, we're talking about Jesus now, he entered into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us. Let me ask you this, did Jesus Christ, when he died on the cross, did he enter into the holy place of the Jews temple or the physical tabernacle on this earth? No, Jesus, and we're going to see this in a moment, he entered into the greater and more perfect tabernacle, the tabernacle in heaven. The Bible teaches us that there is a literal tabernacle in heaven. Moses, when he was told how to build the tabernacle on this earth, was told to see that they'll make all things according to the pattern that was showed in the mount. He is shown an image, he is shown a blueprint of how to make the tabernacle so that it will be like the tabernacle in heaven. Revelation talks about the tabernacle that is in heaven. Christ entered into the holy places not made with hands. He entered into a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not one made by human hands, but one that's made by God in heaven. And he didn't enter with the blood of goats and calves, he brought his own blood. Let's keep reading. For if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctified to the purifying of the flesh, 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. And for this cause he is the mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is a force after men are dead, otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth, whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. First testament is Mount Sinai, Moses, the tabernacle, verse 19, when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book and all the people. So Moses sprinkled the Bible with the blood of those calves and goats, which obviously the blood of calves and goats can't take away sense, but he sprinkled it with the blood of the calves and goats to represent the blood of Jesus. It's a picture, the tabernacle is not the real tabernacle, it's a picture. The blood of calves isn't the real blood of Christ, but it's a picture of the real blood of Christ. And so he sprinkled the book, he sprinkles the tabernacle, you know what, that tells me, it says here, he sprinkled both the book and all the people saying this is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. So we don't want to have a bloodless Bible and we don't want to be a bloodless people, you know, we need to be sprinkled by the blood of Jesus Christ, saying this is the testament of the, this is the blood of the testament which God has enjoined unto you, watch this, moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry and almost all things are by the law purged with blood. Another word for purged is purified, right? And almost all things are by the law purged with blood and without shedding of blood is no remission. Now we saw a bunch of New Testament verses, didn't we? And we were just kind of just rattling them off, redemption through his blood, justification through his blood, salvation through his blood, put your faith in his blood it said. And we saw it just verse after verse after verse, but you know we're not even scratching the surface because you know what, if we really wanted to be here all day, you know what we could do? We could go back to the Old Testament and let's look at every time the Old Testament mentions the blood because almost all things are by the law purged with blood. That means you're just not going to stop reading about the blood when you're reading the Old Testament. Why? Because all of those animal sacrifices and the blood of calves and goats and birds and sheep, it's all pointing us to the blood of Christ, it's all significant. No, it's not literal, it's just death, then why can't I eat a blood taco? You know what I mean? I mean I don't want to eat one anyway, it sounds nasty, but I'm just saying, he's talking about actual blood or he wouldn't be saying like don't eat this actual thing because this is the life of the flesh and the blood. So that's the life of Jesus is in his blood, there's life in Jesus' blood and it's not just ordinary corruptible blood. We're not redeemed by corruptible things, we're redeemed by the incorruptible blood of Jesus. It's special because it's divine. It's not just ordinary human. Look, you know what, if Jesus had an earthly mother and father, if Jesus was the son of Mary and Joseph, then I'd agree with you. If Joseph were Jesus' literal physical father, I'd be like yeah, he's just human, human blood, human body. His flesh is just human. God just became a human. But we have to realize that it's a virgin birth. That's why Christ is divine through and through. I don't know where this doctrine comes from that like well part of him is God or his human blood. There's only one blood that he has and it's both human and divine. It says here, almost all things are by the law purged with blood and without shedding of blood is no remission. And by the way, where are the Jews getting their remission for sins these days? Because I don't see them doing any animal sacrifices or shedding any blood except the Palestinians or something. But anyway, it says here, for Christ, actually let's back up to verse 23. It was therefore necessary, watch this, this is the key folks, don't miss it. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in heaven should be purified with these. So the one on this earth, the tabernacle, it's just a replica. It's not the real thing. The replica gets purged with blood of calves and goats. But it says that the patterns should be purified with these but the heavenly things themselves like the heavenly tabernacle, the heavenly ark of the covenant, that gets sacrificed or excuse me, sanctified with a better sacrifice, the sacrifice of Jesus. Look at verse 24 in case you think I've just been blowing smoke at you this whole time. For Christ has not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true. Now stop for a minute. Do we or do we not believe that there is a literal real tabernacle in heaven? How can he sit there and say, well, the tabernacle on this earth, that's just a figure of the true. Oh, just kidding, the true one is just symbolic. The true is just metaphorical. I mean if it's the true, it better be real. I mean does everybody see what I'm saying, like it better be a real tabernacle if you're going to call that the true tabernacle. This one down here is just a replica. Folks if you have a replica of something, you have to have the real thing. And he says that the ones on this earth are figures of the true one, the real one. So don't sit there and say, well, when the Bible talks about the tabernacle in heaven, that's just, you know, figurative, metaphorical, allegorical. It's real. That's what true means. They're figures of the true. But no, Christ didn't enter into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true. And he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. You're not going to believe this, God's real too. And he's literally up in heaven. And Jesus literally entered his presence. But you know what, these same baby baptizing bozos, this is what they're also going to tell you. Oh, Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father, that's just figurative. That's just figurative. Oh really, well that's figurative, then explain to me why Stephen talked about it while he's being stoned, and he says, I see heaven open, you know, he's getting hit with rocks, I see heaven open, and I see Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. Is he seeing a metaphor? The sky's literally open, he's literally looking at it, and it's like, well, he's just figurative. But you know what, all these philosophers, Anselm, that's what they're all going to say about it. They're all going to say it's figurative. Same people who are denying the blood of Christ. Same baby baptizing bunch of, you know, monastery dwelling weirdos. He says, Christ's not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the truth, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. For yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entered into the holy place every year with blood of others, 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. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, 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 and salvation. Folks, here is the reality of what happened. Jesus Christ not only was our sacrificial lamb that died on the cross for our sins and paid the price for our sins, but Jesus Christ also was our high priest who after he died on the cross for our sins and after he rose again from the dead, took his literal blood, not figurative. He took his literal blood, which was incorruptible because of its divinity. He brought his literal blood and he ascended up to heaven and he sprinkled that blood on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant in the tabernacle in heaven, just as down here you're sprinkling the blood of the lamb on that mercy seat once a year. You've got the high priest going into the most holy place once a year and sprinkling the blood on the mercy seat. Jesus Christ entered into heaven literally with his own blood one time and he sprinkled that blood on the mercy seat and that blood right now is literally on the mercy seat in heaven. That is what the Bible teaches and that blood, the Bible says, speaketh better things than that of Abel. If you would flip over to Hebrews chapter 12. The Bible says in verse 24 of Hebrews chapter 12, it says, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, covenant is another word for testament, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel. Now what did Abel's blood say? Abel's blood cried out from the earth, obviously the speaking is not literal. We're not saying everything in the Bible is literal, but the Bible tells us what's literal when he says, hey, there's a literal tabernacle in heaven and this one down here is just a replica. That's the true tabernacle. That's where Christ entered. He didn't enter into a physical building down here, but he entered into the literal tabernacle in heaven and he sprinkled his blood on the mercy seat in heaven. And what's the Bible saying? Abel was killed in the book of Genesis and God said to Cain, your brother's blood is crying out from the earth. Now what did he mean by that? When he said, your brother's blood is crying out from the earth. Basically it's crying out for justice. Abel's blood is saying, hey, I was murdered. I was killed wrongfully. I need justice, right? Christ's blood is speaking the opposite because it's not calling for damnation or justice or judgment or condemnation. No. What is Christ's blood calling for? Forgiveness, repentance, justification, reconciliation. This is what Christ's blood is speaking. And so Christ's blood present tense speaketh better things than that of Abel, okay? Because Christ's blood is literally on the mercy seat in heaven. So if we're to go to heaven right now and we're to walk into the tabernacle in heaven, and of course, John in the book of Revelation, he sees the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven open and he sees the arc of the covenant in the temple in heaven. It's there folks, it's real. It guaranteed has blood on it right now. It's not just a clean lid to that arc of the covenant, but it has blood on it. And it has the blood of Jesus on it. And a million years from now, that blood of Jesus is still going to be on the mercy seat. The blood of Jesus Christ is what saves us, okay? Now you say, well, I just don't understand exactly how the blood saves us. You know, MacArthur is mocking this like, you know, is there something in its chemical properties that saves us? You know what? The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. Their foolishness unto him, he can't know them because they're spiritually concerned. This is like, you know, trying to just puzzle about, well, how are the dead raised and with what body do they come? You know what? Why don't you just believe God when God says there's going to be a bodily resurrection? And let me tell you something. Jesus Christ was literally born. He was literally a human being. He was literally born of a virgin. He would, look, John said, we touched him. We handled him. We saw him. We heard him. We touched him. He was here. And he said, Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. He's literally here, not just a phantom or a ghost or spirit. He's literally physically here. Literally human. Literally born from the Virgin Mary. Mary literally conceived in her womb. So that means, obviously, for conception to take place, there has to be the seed there from God, God miraculously, not through any kind of intercourse because she's a virgin. That's the whole point. It's a virgin birth. So, you know, it's not like the Mormons claim that God came down and had intercourse with her or something. That's absurd. But rather, the Holy Ghost overshadowed her, right? The Holy Ghost came upon her and the power of the highest overshadowed her. God miraculously fertilized that egg in her womb. She conceived in her womb. And so the product of that conception is going to be 100% God, 100% man. Every cell of Jesus' DNA is going to have both DNA from God and man, right? Mary and God, the Father, of course. Jesus Christ literally, physically walked on water, fed the 5,000. He literally died on the cross. His body was literally dead. He was literally stabbed in the side with a spear. Literal blood and water flowed out the side of his body. He was literally buried in a tomb and he bodily, physically, literally walked out of that grave and he took his literal blood to a literal heaven and he sprinkled that blood on the mercy seat in heaven. And that blood is still there today and it is the blood that justifies. It's the blood that saves. It's the blood that redeems. It's the blood that brings us nigh to Christ. It's the blood. Well, I just don't understand how. It doesn't matter how. Why don't we just say, saved by the blood? Well, I mean, it's just nothing in his human blood saves. It's heretical to call the blood of Jesus Christ the blood of God. I don't love his blood. You know what? You're going to split hell wide open, John MacArthur. Or did he already? Because it's any day now. Is he there yet or what? What's that? Is he there yet or not? No. Okay, not yet. Hell from beneath is moved to meet him. Folks, it's sad to see independent fundamental Baptists now hanging around with John MacArthur, buddying up with John MacArthur, taking a selfie with John MacArthur. Not going to name any names, but it starts with a P and ends in all chapel. Okay? Hey, my family visited an independent fundamentals Baptist church. They visited an independent fundamental Baptist church. And one of the pastors of the church came to my teenage daughters and started confronting my teenagers about how bad their dad is and how I'm so bad. And this was the thing he was so mad about, that we hate John MacArthur and say that John MacArthur is going. And this guy said that he loves John MacArthur and he believes John MacArthur is right and your dad is wrong. That's what this preacher told my teenagers who were visiting on vacation in an independent Baptist church. They said your dad is wrong on salvation and MacArthur is right in an independent fundamental Baptist church. God help us as Baptists if we're going to be influenced by that guy. How many people do they listen to his little radio broadcasts, read his books, throw them in the trash? It's garbage, my friend. We need to stay away from anybody. When somebody starts denying the blood of Christ, good night. How can that not be the biggest red flag in the history of planet earth? Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and thank you so much for the blood that saves. And thank you so much that we're not saved by a filthy rag of our works and submitting to your lordship or anything else, commandments or whatever we can do. Lord, thank you so much that we're saved simply by faith in your blood. And Lord, our faith is in your blood this morning and we're thankful that it speaketh better things than that of Abel. We're thankful that it's on that mercy seat in heaven. And Lord God, we pray that you'd bless the rest of our day as we go our separate ways. Lord, bring us back safely this evening and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.