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Now, this morning I want to preach on the subject of the blood of Jesus Christ, and that is a subject that's dealt with heavily in Hebrews chapter 9, and if you would, just keep your finger in Hebrews 9, but just go back, actually back toward the end of your Bible, just a few pages, to 1 Peter chapter 1, and if you look at verse number 2, the Bible says in 1 Peter 1, 2, it says, Now, all throughout the Bible, but especially in Hebrews and 1 Peter, we see this mention of the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, and that's why the title of my sermon this morning is this, The Blood of Sprinkling. Now, the blood of Jesus Christ is what saves. Now, if you're not sure about that, then I've got several pages here of scriptures that emphasize the importance of the blood of Jesus Christ, and how it's the blood of Jesus Christ that washes away our sins. Now, it talks a lot about the sprinkling of the blood of Christ, and I'm going to explain that in Hebrews chapter 9, then we'll move on. In Hebrews 9, it says in verse 11, if you would look at Hebrews 9 and 11, But Christ being come, an 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, 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. Look at verse 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. You see, in the Old Testament, all throughout the Old Testament, this is emphasized, all the way throughout the Mosaic law, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, there were all these animal sacrifices, and they would shed the blood of that sacrifice, and God saw the blood, the Bible says, and the blood upon the altar was to make an atonement for their sins, but it really never could take away their sins, it was just a picture, it was just a symbol of the blood of Jesus Christ, who would one day die on the cross and be the Lamb of God. But not only was he the Lamb of God, the Bible says here that he was also the High Priest, and he took that blood, according to the Bible, and he took that blood into heaven, and sprinkled it upon the mercy seat in heaven. You see, when the tabernacle was made, and the whole book of Hebrews teaches, we don't have time to read the whole book of Hebrews, but when the tabernacle was made in the Old Testament, it was made according to the pattern of a real tabernacle that already existed in heaven. When God explained to Moses that he was to build the tabernacle, he said, see that they'll make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mountain. And the holy places on this earth, the temple, the holy place, the most holy place, was just a figure, just a pattern of the real thing up in heaven. And the animal that was sacrificed upon that altar was just a picture of the real sacrifice, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who would one day die on the cross for the sins of mankind, and shed his blood. But not only shed his blood, but after he resurrected from the dead, the Bible says he took that blood, not into the tabernacle, not into the temple that was there in Jerusalem, but into heaven itself, and sprinkled it upon the literal mercy seat in heaven, and that blood is what saves you and what keeps you saved. Look at Hebrews 9-18. The Bible says this, Whereupon neither the first testament, let's talk about the Old Testament, was dedicated without blood. For 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, saying, this is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. 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, and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is 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. Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth 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 unto salvation. You see, this doctrine is under attack today, and it's not just today, it's always been under attack. It's been under attack for a long time. Let me just quickly, before we get into all the doctrine here, and look at all the scriptures on the blood of Christ, let me tell you who's attacking this doctrine. Number one, modern Bible versions are attacking this doctrine. If you look up most of the verses on the blood, and a lot of the different verses on the blood that make it so clear that we're saved through the blood of Jesus Christ, in modern Bibles it's completely taken out. Like for example, you look up Colossians 1.14 in the NIV. In the King James Bible it says, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. And yet you look it up in a modern Bible, New American Standard, NIV, it'll say, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. The blood is removed. The United Methodist Church recently took the blood out of many of the songs in their hymnal. They said they wanted to eradicate mention of the blood of Christ from their hymnal because they said we don't want to have a bloody religion. So they said we need to remove references to the blood from the hymnal. There's too many references. You know, songs like Nothing But the Blood, Power in the Blood, Are You Washed in the Blood, When I See the Blood. I mean there's a lot of songs like that. They say we don't want to sing that. That's not wholesome. We don't want to hear about that. And yet the Bible mentions it over and over and over. In the Old Testament there are hundreds of references to the blood of Christ. We're going to look at mainly just the New Testament references today. And then we're going to get into Passover. But there's a famous preacher, John MacArthur. Who's ever heard of John MacArthur out in California? The Master's College and the famous Baptist preacher? Here's what he said. Obviously it was not the blood of Jesus that saves. Okay, this is April 4th, 1986. That's obvious, right? Okay, wait till you see what the Bible says. Obviously it was not the blood of Jesus that saves. Or He could have bled for us without dying. Now this doesn't make any sense. Because you see there were many elements in our salvation. A lot of people don't realize it wasn't just the blood. It's not just the death. It's the death, it's the burial, it's the resurrection, it's His sinless life, it's His virgin birth, it's His second coming, it's everything. You can't just sit there and say, well it can't be the blood because then it wouldn't be the death. No, it's the blood and the death and the burial and the resurrection and the second coming. It's all part of the plan of salvation. He said obviously it's not the blood of Jesus that saves. And he said when Romans 3.25 speaks of faith in His blood, everyone understands that to be a reference to His death. I just thought I was just talking about His blood when I read it. I must be the dumbest person in the world because everybody else sees this except me. Not the blood running through His body. In Romans 5.9 being justified by His blood, that also is just referring to His death. As verse 10 makes it clear by saying we're reconciled to God by the death of His Son. And let's see here. In fact, Romans 6 doesn't mention the blood at all. Oh, okay, it must not matter if He didn't mention it in all 1189 chapters of the Bible. And listen to this, you've got to hear this. The point is that the shedding of blood was just a visible indication of His death, His life being poured out. I admit that because of some traditional hymns, there's an emotional attachment to the blood. You know, these hymns have got us all emotional about the blood. But that should not pose a problem when one is dealing with theological or textual specificity. I could sing hymns about the blood and rejoice with them, you know, but I understand that reference to be a metonym. What is a metonym? And you say, oh, Heister Anderson, you need to learn these theological terms. How dare you not know what a metonym is. Hey, we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. I'm not going to stand up here and use a bunch of words that nobody understands that are not God's word. We need to speak in words, 1 Corinthians 14, that are easy to be understood. And God's word provides the only vocabulary I need. I don't need a metonym or a homonym or whatever. I just need to preach God's word as it's written here. And when it says the blood, I just believe it's the blood and I'm going to prove it to you. But He said, oh, I can sing hymns about the blood. You know, basically what He's saying is, but deep down I know it really doesn't matter. You know, but I can sing the song because it's a good song. No, the song came from the Bible. That's why those people wrote so many songs, because it's written in the Bible so much. He said, are you still in Hebrews chapter 9? Look down at Hebrews 9. Here's what it says in his MacArthur study Bible. In Hebrews 9.22, he puts a little note next to it. Shedding of blood just refers to his death. Oh, okay, thanks. What would we do without him to explain that to us? And then it says in Hebrews 9.12, a better translation would be through his own blood. And then listen to this. Nothing is said, this is from the MacArthur study Bible, Hebrews chapter 9. Nothing is said which would indicate that Christ carried His actual physical blood with Him into the heavenly sanctuary. That's what the whole chapter keeps on saying. Christ is entered into the holy places, not made with hands, not with the blood of bulls and of goats, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Look at Hebrews chapter 12, next chapter, or a few chapters that is. Look at Hebrews chapter 12. He said this, God that is, not MacArthur, but in Hebrews chapter 12.22 he said this, But ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel. You see, if the blood is just the death, how do you sprinkle death? How do you shed death? How do you spill death? How does death flow and wash you from your sins? You see, the blood means the blood. Now let me give you a bunch of scripts on this and you don't have to turn to all these because you just keep turning and turning and turning. You might just want to listen if you want to see how fast you are with that Bible and flip through these. But let me just give you some scripture verses and you tell me, is this an emotional attachment that we have with the blood that came from a song or did it come from the word of God? That's what I want to know. Revelation 19.13 says that Jesus Christ, when he returns, was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God. Revelation 12.11, And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives under the dead. Revelation 7.14, And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest, and he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Revelation 5.9, And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take... Oh, wait a minute. Is this another song? Oh, we shouldn't get a... Oh, this is a song that God wrote. Let's see if God likes songs about the blood. They sung a new song saying in Revelation 5.9, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou has slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. Revelation 1.5, 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, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. 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. 1 Peter 1.18, Forasmuch as ye know that ye were 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. Hebrews 13.20, Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, threw the blood of the everlasting covenant. Hebrews 13.12, Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Did you get that? Sanctify the people with his own blood. Hebrews 10.29, Of how much sore 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. Doesn't matter. He said, The blood doesn't matter. It's an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace. Hebrews 10.19, Having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Colossians 1.14, In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. 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 the earth, or things in heaven, and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath ye reconciled. Ephesians 2.13, But now in Christ ye who are sometimes far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Ephesians 1.7, In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. 1 Corinthians 11.25, After the same manner also he took the cup when he had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me. 1 Corinthians 10.16, The cup of blessing which we bless is not the communion of the blood of Christ. Romans 5.9, Much more than being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him. Romans 3.25, Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. That's where your faith ought to be to save you, in the blood of Jesus Christ. He said to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. Acts 20.28, Take heed therefore unto yourselves, unto all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. Luke 22.20, Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you. Mark 14.24, And he said unto them, This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many. Matthew 26.28, For this is the blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Now, that's not even all. There are more references to the blood than you said. That's just a couple pages of references. I'm here to tell you something. The blood of Jesus Christ is what cleanses us from our sins. And to say that the blood doesn't matter, to say that the blood has no saving value and that the songs are just written based on tradition or based on an emotional feeling. We've never lived in a more emotional touchy-feely time when it comes to the singing in churches, but it's not songs about the blood. You know, I've been to these touchy-feely services and they weren't singing about the blood. You know, last time I checked, these swinging and swaying churches, I don't remember a lot of talk about the blood. It seems like it was the old-fashioned hymns that really talked a lot about the blood. Maybe that was back when people read their Bible and they kept reading it in every chapter again and again and again. And they said, wow, this is important. This is significant. This is vital. Now in Hebrews, if you're still in Hebrews, look at Hebrews chapter number 11. And here's where I want to go next with this. Here's a good verse from the Old Testament. As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit, wherein is no water. But look at Hebrews chapter 11 and back to the title of the sermon, the blood of sprinkling. It says this, through faith, this is Hebrews 11.28, through faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. Let's go back and look at that story. Let's look at Exodus chapter 12. We're going to look at the story of the Passover. Because the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. That's what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 5. Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. He said, therefore let us keep the feast, not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Jesus Christ is our Passover. Let's go back to Exodus chapter 12 and let's look at the story of the Passover. Because the Bible said in Hebrews, by faith Moses kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. You see, he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood. The Passover was the feast that they ate. The sprinkling of blood was the blood that he applied to the doorpost of the home where they were staying. Look at Exodus chapter 12 and you'll see this. And the Lord spake unto Moses, verse 1 in Aaron, in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months, it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers. A lamb for a house. And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls. Every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish. A male of the first year, ye shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. Now this of course is all a parallel of Jesus Christ. He was killed by the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel who cried out, crucify him. He was the lamb without spot, without blemish. That's what John the Baptist said when he saw him. Behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world. He was without spot, he was without blemish, he was sinlessly perfect. He walked on this earth for approximately thirty-three and a half years totally without sin. He was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin. And look what it says next. It says, and they shall take up the blood, verse seven, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sod it all with water, but roast with fire, his head with his legs and with the pertinence thereof. And ye shall let nothing remain until the morning, and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it, with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and ye shall eat it in haste, for it is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are. And when I see that you killed the lamb, is that what he said? And when I see that the lamb was killed, I'll pass over. When I see that the lamb died, I'll pass over. No, he said, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt, and so forth. And he goes on to explain more about the Passover. You see, it was the blood applied to the doorpost that spared them from the physical death of their literal firstborn child. And it is the blood of Jesus Christ that saves us spiritually from death and the second death of going to hell for eternity. You see, this is a picture in the Old Testament of what salvation is. And this kind of ties in too to what I preached a few weeks back on Wednesday night. It's not enough to just say, well, we killed the lamb, or we ate the lamb. We roasted it with fire, we ate it, we drank the juice, we ate the herbs, the bitter herbs, the bread, and so forth. That's not enough. In order to be spared here, they had to apply that blood to the doorpost. You see, everyone who was in the house where they applied the blood was spared. Do you remember how he said that maybe if there's not a lot of people living in a certain house, maybe not enough to eat that lamb? He said basically they could go over to our neighbor's house, and they could basically kill a lamb for them and the neighbor, according to their eating, so that they could all eat of the lamb. And so basically, you didn't just have every single house here involved. You could go over to your neighbor's house. Let's say I'm just a single guy, and my neighbor's family over there, I don't want to kill a lamb and go through all this just for me. I say, hey, let me come in and be a part of your feast here and eat this lamb with you and share with it. And you see, what made the difference, and of course this literally happened, in the land of Egypt, God was sending a plague where he would kill the firstborn child of every single person in the land of Egypt. Because remember, they would not let his people go. Pharaoh had hardened his heart, even with all the flies and the locusts and the water and the blood and all the horrible things that were happening, Pharaoh had hardened his heart and stubbornly refused to let the children of Israel go. And so therefore, God sent one last horrible plague, and he said, after this, they will let you go. He sent this horrible plague where the firstborn child of every house would die. The death angel would come through and just destroy the firstborn, and they'd wake up in the morning, and they'd be dead. He said, I don't care if it's the son of Pharaoh himself, all the way down to the man who's in prison for being a debtor who has nothing, his firstborn son will die. He said, this is the way to be spared. There's one way to be spared. There's one way to be saved from your firstborn dying. He said, you must kill this lamb and so forth. He explained all that, shed the blood, but he said, you must put the blood on the doorpost of the house, upon the top doorpost and upon the side lentils, and he said, you must be in that house. You have to remain in that house. And he said, when I come through the land at night to slay the firstborn, he said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. When I see the blood, I'll pass that out, and I will not slay the firstborn. And let me tell you something, if he didn't see that blood, that firstborn son was going to die. Now, think about this. Don't you think that there are probably a lot of nice, good people who didn't put the blood on the doorpost? I mean, good citizens of Egypt, nice people, maybe moral people, but they just didn't believe God. They didn't believe what was spoken. And so therefore, they said, yeah, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to kill the lamb. I'm not going to put the blood on the doorpost. And let me tell you something, those people's firstborn son died, all of them. That's what the Bible teaches. The Bible explains there's a great cry that went up in Egypt when they awoke the next morning, and they saw that their sons had died, and that's when they practically thrust them out of the land of Egypt, because there was not a family that was not affected. Because every family was affected because the firstborn son in every family died, and there was sorrow and wailing, and they said, get these people out of here. You know, God is cursing us because they're here. We've got to get them out. Because it happened to everybody. And it didn't matter how good you were. It didn't matter how religious you were. It didn't matter what you were. It didn't matter if you said, well, you know, I believe the Bible. I believe in God. If you didn't have that blood on that doorpost, your firstborn son was going to die. And let me tell you something else. No matter how sinful you were, no matter how ungodly you've been, if you had the blood on that doorpost, if you were in that house, you would be spared from this judgment. And it's a picture of salvation. Christ, our Passover. Because of the fact that even a person who has lived a rotten life, if they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, their sins can be washed away in the blood, can be pardoned by the blood. And on Judgment Day, when God sees that blood, basically He'll pass over. And they'll be spared from judgment. This was a physical judgment. A firstborn son died. It had nothing to do with whether that person went to heaven or hell. If that person was a believer, they went to heaven. If they were not, they went to hell. But that's not the point. The point was that physically they were going to die if they didn't have the blood on the doorpost. And you see, this is a step of faith here that they had to take. And people could have maybe looked at that and seen the blood on the doorpost and said, oh man, you're one of those, you know, you believe in Moses, you're listening to Moses, this and that. But your life was at stake here. You had to have the blood on the doorpost. Or else you were going to die. This is the picture of salvation. Don't say the blood doesn't matter. Because it's not enough that just Jesus died and was buried and rose again. You say, how can you say that's not enough? It wasn't enough. If that was enough, then that's all He would have done and it would be on... We wouldn't even need the Bible. We'd just have an index card. The whole word of God could just be an index card that I hand to you. He died, He buried, He rose again. That's it. No. He had to be born of a virgin. He had to live a sinless life. Because in order for His righteousness to be imputed unto us, He had to live that sinless life. Look at John chapter 20 if you would. In order for Jesus Christ's righteousness to be imputed unto us so that we could go to heaven through His righteousness, He had to live that righteous life. He had to live a perfect life. Then He had to be betrayed. That was part of the scriptures that He had to fulfill. Then He had to die on the cross. He had to shed His blood. He had to be buried. His soul went to hell for three days and three nights. His body was buried in a tomb. Three days later, He physically rose again from the dead. But even then it wasn't over yet. Because the Bible says this in John chapter 20. This is in the garden. Jesus had just risen from the dead. And it talks about in verse number 11, it says, But Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping, and as she went, she stooped down and looked into the sepulcher. And seeth two angels in white, sitting, the one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back and saw Jesus standing. This is after Jesus physically rose from the dead. And knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She supposing him to be the gardener saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself and saith unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, Master. Watch what Jesus says to her. So basically, she doesn't know it's him. She thinks he's the gardener. Because she's not looking him straight in the face. She's crying and everything. And he says to her, Mary. Then she turns, the Bible says, looks at him, and sees that it's Jesus. And says, Master. Rabboni, that's the Hebrew term there. Master. Watch what he says. Because he can see the excitement. He can see the joy in her face to see Jesus. He's afraid, basically, that she's just going to run over and give him a hug or something. And this is what he says. Touch me not. Are you looking at this in verse 17? Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and to my God, and to your God. Now look at this. Verse 19. Then the same day and evening, being the first day of the week when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled together for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and said unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side, then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. And on and on. But look at verse 24. But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto them, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days, again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith you to Thomas. Now tell me if this is the same as what he said in verse 17. Reach hither thy finger and behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing. So he said to Mary, in the garden, directly after he'd risen from the dead, he said, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father, but go tell Peter and James, John, and the other disciples. Now wait a minute. He was going to come see them later anyway. But he said, I'm not yet ascended to the Father, go tell them, but don't touch me, because I must ascend to the Father. Then when he comes back, it's different, because he's saying to them, thrust your hand into my side, touch the holes in my hand. And if you read the book of Luke, it talks about how all the disciples handled him. They want to see, hey, is it really you? They handled him. And he even told them, come, I want you to know. Because they were chosen witnesses, the Bible says. He wanted them to be eyewitnesses of the resurrection, and that's why he had them handle him. That's why John said in 1 John 1, which our hands have handled, about Jesus Christ being risen from the dead. He wanted them to be witnesses of the resurrection, and to know that it wasn't just a spiritual resurrection, it was a physical, bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's why that was so critical. Now, let me open the pulpit here. Listen to what the modern Bibles will do to John 2017. John 2017, you look down at the King James Bible there, where Jesus tells Mary, touch me not, for I'm not yet ascended to my Father. I'm going to explain to you why that's significant. This is what it says in John 19, I'm sorry, John 2017. Jesus said, this is the New International Version, do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to my Father. Go ahead and turn there if you would, Brother Garrett, in the New American Standard, another one of the new Bibles. This is John MacArthur, John Denied the Blood, MacArthur's Bible of Choice. Go ahead and look it up in there. Hey, look it up for me in this one, would you? Thank you. And then, let's see, look it up for me in, I'm running out of my supply here. Anyway, what do you got there, Garrett? Jesus said to her, stop clinging to me. Okay, stop clinging to me. Now, wait a minute, isn't that a little different than don't touch me, like the King James says, touch me not, I'm not yet ascended to my Father. I mean, according to that, she's already clinging, stop clinging to me, I got to go. I got to go, you know, totally different meaning, totally different. But you see, it's part of these modern Bibles, attack on the blood. How are you? You probably can't even find it in that crazy thing. John 2017, you got it? What's it say in that thing? It says, don't touch me, he cautioned. Okay, so that one's actually got it right. That's the one thing it's got right. The living Bible of all things. Not like, you know, the New American Standard is much more accurate than that living Bible, you know. But anyway, these modern versions, it's part of their attack on the blood, you know, because of the fact that why did Jesus have to ascend to his Father? This is not the ascension that we read about in Acts chapter 1, where he ascended up and said, hey, the next time I come back, every eye will see me coming in the clouds. That's what we're still waiting for. This is not that ascension, because that wasn't to happen for weeks to come. This is right after he rose from the dead, he ascended to the Father to do what? Because the Bible says what he did in Hebrews 9. Now maybe if you're just reading the book of John, you'd be wondering, what is that about? He ascended and then he ascends again later, you know, for good. And seated at the right hand of the Father. But when you get to Hebrews, you'll find out what he did. Because he then, after being the Lamb of God, the sacrifice, then he took on the role of being our high priest. And as the high priest, he had to be totally pure, totally clean. Remember the high priest had to totally put on a different garment, he had to bathe his flesh in water, change his clothes, he had to put on certain clothes. Nobody could touch him. Because as soon as anybody touches him, he's impure now. And he can't do this sacrifice. He had to go through a certain sanctification process, a physical process, representing something spiritual. He had to go through that physical process and go into that holy place with the blood once a year, and he sprinkled that blood on the mercy seat, seven times. And that was the atonement for sin, it was just a picture. But guess what, when Jesus did it, it wasn't a picture, it was the real thing. He said when they did it in the Old Testament, it was a figure of the truth. Christ entered into the real holy place in heaven and sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat in heaven. And let me tell you something, that blood is still there today. In the present tense, the Bible says that blood speaketh better things than that of Abel. You remember Abel's blood when Abel was slain by a king? He said, the blood of thy brother crieth unto me from the ground. And you see, that's what God uses in illustration. That blood that's up in heaven on the mercy seat is crying out, hey, justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. That blood that's in heaven on the mercy seat is crying out today, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. God is crying out today that he's washed us from our sins in his own blood. That's what it says. That's better than what Abel's blood said. And that's what the Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter 12. You see, the blood of sprinkling is what saves you. The fact that Jesus Christ not only died on the cross, but shed his blood. Not only shed his blood, but rose again. Not only rose again, but sprinkled the blood seven times on the mercy seat in heaven. And not only that, but one day he'll come again. The second coming is part of it. And so there are all these different facets of it, and people will try to say, well, when Jesus was on the cross, they'll say this, he said it is finished, and therefore there was nothing else he needed to do. Salvation was complete. Well, let's see, you're leaving out the biggest, most important thing, which is the resurrection. I mean, how can you say that that's all, it was done? No, when he said it is finished, he was referring to the fact that his life was finished. He said, I finished the works which thou gavest me to do. He came to this earth, and he fulfilled God's will for his life. He completed all the works. He lived a sinless life. He suffered on the cross. He said it is finished, and he gave up the ghost. But let me tell you something, it was not completely done. Because then, he went to hell for three days and three nights. Acts 2.31, this spake he of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither did his flesh seek corruption. It wasn't over because he had to rise again physically from the dead. It wasn't over because he had to ascend up to the Father, sprinkle the blood on the mercy sheet, and that's when the sacrifice was complete. Then, after that, he still had to ascend up and be seated at the right hand of God, waiting until his enemies be made his footstool. Then he would return the second time, set up his millennial kingdom on this earth for a thousand years, then there's going to be the great white thorn of judgment. Don't try to say, well, it's just the dead. And you know who's saying that? A false prophet who's trying to downplay something that God emphasizes. God emphasizes it. He says, it's the blood, it's the blood, it's the blood. You're saved by the blood when I see the blood. Nope, just the dead. And you know who this is coming from? You say, I don't think you should preach against other people. You should preach against the blood. It's funny how people get mad at me for preaching against another preacher, but they don't get mad when somebody denies the blood. That's what they ought to get mad about. You see, it's the blood that's changed. You say, don't name names of other preachers. Okay, well then I won't preach like the Apostle Paul, who named Hymenaeus, Alexander, Philetus, Hermogenes, Phidelus. These are the men who were preaching heresy in Paul's day. He said, I'm going to point them out. I'm going to warn you. He said, they're saying that the resurrection has passed already. They have overthrown the faith of some. He said, beware of Alexander, beware of Hymenaeus, beware of Hermogenes. How would I even know these names? No one names their son Hermogenes because he was a lying false prophet. You know, have you ever noticed how people don't usually name their kids some of the bad characters in the Bible? You know what I mean? People want to name their kid like David, Solomon. They want to name their kid the heroes. Joseph, Caleb, Joshua, right? These are the popular names. They don't name their kid Ahab. They don't name their dog, oh that's a cute baby girl. What's her name? Jezebel. Oh, you know, what a sweet girl, Rahab. You know, it's just not necessarily what you want your daughter to grow up and be like. And so therefore you don't name them these names. So nobody names their child Philetus. Nobody names their child Hermogenes. Nobody names their child Phygelus. And I mean, it sounds like a good name. No, I'm just kidding. You know, Phygelus, come have a pea bird sandwich. It doesn't really roll off the tongue. What I'm saying is people get all emotional, not about a song about the blood. They get all emotional when you hit on their favorite preacher. That's what they get emotional about. Hey, I get emotional about the blood. And it's not from a song. It's from reading the Bible. It's from learning the book of Hebrews. That's why I get emotional about it. I don't get emotional when you call the name of some false prophet. And it's funny because this ties in too with what I preached on Wednesday night a couple weeks ago. Because you know the same guy, John MacArthur, who denies the blood? The same guy is the one who will tell you Calvinism. He's against praying the prayer of salvation. He's against calling upon the Lord for salvation. He says salvation is more just, you know, a process. Remember it was his dad? Listen to this now. Remember it was John MacArthur's own dad in L.A. who told my grandfather that he was already saved when he wasn't saved? My grandfather, Dwayne Donald Anderson, a great soul winner, a great man. Later when he actually got saved, when somebody actually gave him the gospel, he went to John MacArthur's dad's church, sat in the preaching. He raised his hand at the end that he needed to be saved or came down the aisle or whatever. And John MacArthur's father took him into his office and said, you know, so what do you need? And he said, well, to be saved. And he said, well, did you hear my sermon? Yeah. Then you're saved. That's what he told him. I'm not kidding. That's what he told him. And basically, my grandpa walked out of that office and he just started talking to him about something else. So my grandpa walked out of that office and he thought he was saved. And he even said to himself, he told us later that he said within himself, well, I'm just as good as all these other people anyway at this church. I'm sure I'm saved. You know, and his wife's family who he was dating at the time, okay, he was just dating her. He said, I look at their life, I'm just as good as they are. They're saved. I'm saved. The pastor said I'm saved. You know, I came to church. I heard the sermon. You know, they're all saved. Because God forbid he would, you know, show them from the Bible and lead them in a prayer to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ as his savior. You know, this decisional regeneration. Yeah, you got to make a decision whether you're going to put that blood on the doorposts or not. It's not enough just to believe that it's there. Oh yeah, I believe that the Lamb died. I believe the blood will save me. Well, put the blood on the doorposts and that's when you're going to be saved. And you do that when you believe on Jesus Christ, not just in a way saying, yeah, I believe in Jesus. You know, one time my grandpa, same man, Dwayne Donald Anderson, this isn't the one who passed away yesterday. He passed away in 1992. It's my other grandfather. He knocked on the door of a lady one time, Al Solwenny, and he asked the question, he didn't ask the question, do you know for sure if he died today? His opening question was just, are you a Christian, was how he would start the conversation. And then he would ask the other question later. It was just a different time in America. He just, that's what he said. He went to the door of a lady and he said, are you a Christian? And she said, well, I'm not a cannibal. You know, and that's the way it was in her mind. Like, you know, you're either a Christian or a cannibal. Like, basically what she meant is like, well, isn't everybody? You know, like, are you a Christian? She's like, not a cannibal, you know? And he's like, okay, maybe I need to start asking that, do you know for sure question. But anyway, the point is that everybody thinks like, oh yeah, I believe in Jesus, but unless you're trusting Christ as your savior, as your only way to heaven, unless you're trusting Jesus Christ alone, his blood, his death, his burial, his resurrection, Jesus paid it all, you're not saved just by sin. I believe in Jesus, but I think I'll go to heaven because I live a pretty good life. You're not saved? My grandpa wasn't saved. He didn't get saved until almost a decade later when a five-year-old boy, a five-year-old boy walked up to him and started quoting to him the plan of salvation, quoted him the Romans road at age five, quoted him Romans 3.23, and he was so impressed by that, he went to the little boy and visited his church, and he visited that church, and a few days after he visited that church, the pastor and the deacon came over to his house, gave him the gospel, went through, prayed with him, and he became a deacon in the church, my grandfather did, became a great soul winner, became a great man, and it was because he got saved, not by the blood denier, not by the Calvinist who thinks, well, people will just kind of get saved automatically. No, we've got to get him saved. Paul said, I've become all things to all men that I might by all means save some of them. He said, we've got to get them the gospel, get them saved, pulling them out of the fire, it's said in Jude 22. And so it's not enough that people just vaguely believe on, you know, I believe in Jesus like he died, he's a real person. Hey, they've got to trust Christ as their savior. Not just I believe in Jesus, they believe on Jesus and say, hey, Jesus is my way to heaven. And not just, well, you know, I live a pretty good life, I go to church and therefore I'm going to heaven. You know, there's Jesus' part and there's mine. No, Jesus paid it all. Your part is one word, believe. Believe, that's all. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. But it's not just a theoretical belief. Like, oh yeah, two plus two is four, I see it in the math book. No, it's, I'm putting my whole eternity on that, and let me explain it to you in this way. If I were to sit in this chair right now, okay, and let's say I just plop down with all my weight, just... Now what if that chair would have been broke? I would have got hurt, right? I mean, I would have come crashing. Have you ever sat down and had somebody take out the chair before you sat down? You fall pretty hard. Who's ever had somebody do that dirty trick to you? Seriously, I mean, you plop down and somebody takes that chair out, you get hurt pretty bad. Or, you know, sometimes somebody might lean on something they think is there, you know, and they come crashing down, you know what I'm talking about? But see, this is what salvation is. Salvation is when you put it all on Jesus. And if Jesus isn't going to get you there, then you're not going. And unless you believe with all your heart, my friend, you're not saved. And it's not how much you believe or a feeling, it's where you make the decision to say, I'm putting all my faith and trust in Jesus. And that's when I sit in that chair, when I plop down all my weight and say, you know what, it's all Jesus. I plop down in that chair, that's when I'm saved. And no sooner. I can't say, well, okay, I think I'm going to do this just to cover my bases. You know, I'll pray and call upon the name of the Lord just to kind of cover, you know. I mean, I'm still a Catholic, you know. Still going to go to confessionals, still going to take the mass and everything. But just in case what you're saying is right, I think I'll do this too. No. You know, you can't be both Buddhist and Christian. You can't be Islamic and Christian. And you can't be a Roman Catholic and believe on Jesus Christ. Because Roman Catholicism does not teach that salvation is by faith in Christ. It teaches that it's your own works, that it's you on a weekly basis. I mean, let's face it, when you go to the Catholic Church, you chant every week, save me Lord. They pray that prayer every single week. Who knows, who's been a Catholic in the past? You've been there and you've chanted something about save us now or whatever. My wife's not in here right now, but she told me, she recited something to me and it's almost like they think they're getting saved every week or something. You know, they go to the priest and they have to keep getting forgiveness. I already have forgiveness through his blood, thank God, the forgiveness. I don't have to go get more forgiveness, more forgiveness. It's done. I've already got it. I'm not being saved. I've done been saved. I'm already saved. And so you can't still believe. And let me tell you something, when you go out soul winning and you give somebody the Gospel, if they still believe in Catholicism, they're not saved. They're not saved. I talked to a couple guys. I was out soloing with Brother Jordan on Wednesday evening before church. Talked to a couple guys, gave them the Gospel, went thorough, clear. I mean just over and over, showed them a ton of scriptures, prayed with them. And then afterward you could talk to them and tell one of them still thought it was works. And the other one just did not get it. I mean the other one did get it. One of them did not get it. It was so clear. But both of them had a hard time getting it as I was explaining it to them throughout. That's why I had to use just so many scriptures to keep going over it. But it was amazing how once they prayed, it was like one of them just had it, solid. The other one didn't have a clue. And I told him, I said, you know what, I said, man, I'm sorry. I said, you're not saved. You still don't get it. I gave him some verses to read, some homework to do on it. I said, look, you need to get this figured out. You need to settle this. And I said, you're not saved. We need to be thorough when we're talking to people. Because I would hate this to happen. I'd hate to give somebody the gospel and walk away leaving them the impression that they're saved when they're not. You know what I mean? You don't want to do that. You want to be sure that they're not still... Like, who was it? Victor, right? On Sunday. We're out soul winning on Sunday. And Victor talks to a guy and goes through the whole thing with him, very thorough. But when he walked away, the guy's like, well, I'm still a Catholic. He's still talking about he needs to pray to these idols and these little statues and Mary and whatever. He didn't get it. He's not trusting. He's just adding to it. You don't put... And Jesus put it to you this way. He says, salvation, it's not putting new wine into an old bottle. He said, it's not putting a new piece of cloth into an old garment. He said, if you put a new piece of cloth into an old garment, he said that it's going to rend out and make it even worse of a whole. He said, you can't put new wine into old bottles. He said, you've got to put new wine into new bottles. You've got to put new cloth into a new garment. And I'm here to tell you something. Salvation is not adding to your old false religion. You just add this on. Catholicism plus salvation through faith in Jesus. Islam plus salvation through faith in Jesus. No, you must reject that and say, no, it's wrong. I will believe on Christ alone. Amen. Alone. And if that's not what people that you talk to out on Soul Lending are believing, they're not even saved if they're still hanging on to some other religion. Well, I can believe both. No, you can't. You can't believe both. You've got to take a step of faith. You've got to take a decision. You couldn't have it both ways in Exodus. You couldn't just kind of paint the blood on real thin. You know what I mean? Like, because your house was already red or whatever. You know, you pretty much either had it on the door or you didn't. Right? And that's how salvation is. You're either saved or you're not. And you can't try to say, well, you know, I kind of still believe in the Egyptian gods too, though. You know what I mean? No. You had to make that choice and say, nope, it's the blood. It's Jesus. And I'm telling you something. There's a lot of people out there that are spinning their wheels. And I'm not talking about in our church. But I'm saying across America, there's a lot of people that are out spinning their wheels, going around and talking to people, you know, giving them the gospel, praying a prayer with them. But you know what? They're not being thorough. And therefore, they're just kind of having, they're just basically having people chant some words. But nothing really changed about what they believe. Nothing really changed. You know, and the reason that we pray with people is that's where we make them make that decision. To make Christ their personal Savior. Just like it said in Exodus 12, first he said a lamb, then he said your lamb. Did you notice that? He started out talking about take a lamb, take a lamb. But then he said, you know what, your lamb. And not until Jesus Christ is your lamb are you saved. You know, where you basically say Jesus is my Savior. He's my Savior. I believe on Jesus Christ. He's my Father. He's my Savior. He's my way to heaven. He's my way to heaven. That's why we have people call upon the Lord to be saved. Not because of the fact that just say these words and you'll be saved. But because of the fact that if any normal person, okay, and I want to do a quick illustration then we're going to close the sermon. Stuckey, come on up here. I just want to make sure that this is really clear. And the reason I make this clear is because I don't think anything is more important than salvation and soul winning. So I think it's important that we have these doctrines clear. I think it's important that we know that the blood saves. If it weren't important, would God have repeated it as many times as we just read all those scriptures? Now, let's go ahead and have Garrett come up here too so we can do this illustration. Now, Garrett here, okay, for the sake of the illustration, this is the last illustration of the message. Garrett here is a physician, okay? And he's a specialist. Stuckey here has a terrible illness. And Stuckey has been going to all kinds of doctors, all kinds of hospitals. He's been doing every kind of treatment. He's been reading all kinds of books and in fact his illness just gets worse and worse and worse and nobody can figure out how to help Stuckey, okay? Well, I hear about this and I'm a friend of Garrett's here and I know that Garrett is an amazing physician who actually has a cure that's foolproof for what Stuckey has, okay? So I want to come and I want to explain to Stuckey and introduce him to Garrett, okay? Because Garrett's the man that can save his life. Garrett's the man that can cure him of his illness. And so I say, Stuckey, I want to introduce you to Garrett here, okay? Now, look at Garrett now. I know it doesn't seem like it. I know it doesn't look like it. He doesn't look like a doctor, you know? But I know you may not realize it and maybe you've even, you've probably, have you known Garrett for a while, Stuckey? How long have you known Garrett approximately? A year and a half. Did you know that he's a doctor? I don't know. You didn't know that? You've heard about him. I mean, have you talked to him before? Yeah. But did you know that he's a doctor, that he has these miracle cures? You didn't know that, did you? No. Well, that's why I'm telling you about it right now, okay? He can cure this sickness. You know the one you've spent all the money on? You've got a doctor, you've tried all these remedies. My wife has given you all kinds of bitter, spicy things that she does to me every time I'm sick. All the nasty stuff she's making you drink. He can cure you, Stuckey. He has the treatment, and it's free. He charges no consultation. He'll do this pro bono just because he wants to help you, okay? He'll do it, okay? But it's going to take a little faith on your part because you're going to have to submit to this treatment, okay? Now, let me ask you, are you willing to let him cure you? I mean, you've tried everything else. Are you willing to do this? I'm going to give it a shot. Okay, great. All right, good. Okay. So what do you think you're going to do next? What am I going to do next? Your treatment from Garrett. Okay, so what are you going to do? Get your mind in the illustration a second. We're actually here talking about this, okay? If I don't do it. He can cure you, Stuckey. He's got the treatment. Garrett, can you cure me? Okay. Now, isn't that odd? But do you think he'd just say, like, okay, well, thanks, Pastor Anderson. And then we both just walk away. No. Because anybody who sees that this guy is holding their faith in their hands. Because, I mean, if you're really that ill, and Stuckey knows me real well, he knows I'm not going to just make stuff up. And I'm telling him, look, this guy can cure you, okay? Right there. There he is. There he is, Stuckey. There he is, right there. He's going to cure you. You know what he's going to do? He's going to say, well, okay, do it. Help me. Help me. Save me. Do it. You know? And what happens is these people who want to take the prayer out of this door-to-door soul winning, basically they're just leaving God completely out of it. Because obviously in the illustration, Garrett, go ahead and sit down. Garrett represents God. He represents the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay? They leave God completely out of it. It's just me just telling you all about Jesus and explaining it all to you. And obviously the Word of God is God. I'm showing you God's Word. I'm explaining it to you theoretically. But you know what? Where's God? God is where you look at Jesus Christ and you say, okay, God, save me then. Okay, Jesus, save me. That's when you're saved. That's called calling upon the name of the Lord and it's found from Genesis to Revelation. It is the proverbial applying of the blood to the doorposts of your heart. That's not going to do you any good to just say words if you don't truly believe on Jesus alone. How then shall they call on Him in whom they've not believed? You've got to put all your faith in Him. And here's the thing, Stecky, come here. There's one other thing I forgot to tell you about this doctor. He requires you to stop all other treatments. He's not just going to add his cure because he doesn't know how his cure is going to interreact with all the weird stuff that the doctor's got you taking. And therefore he requires you, and this is going to take some faith on your part, Stecky. He requires you to stop taking all the meds that you're on. I know you think you need all these meds and you have to stop all those other meds. Because he's not just going to mix his treatment with everybody. No, you've got to stop taking your Catholicism meds. You're going to have to stop your Islam med. You're going to have to stop your Repentive Your Sins med. You're going to have to stop your Turn Over a New Leaf med. You're going to have to get off of your med that says that it's baptism. No, he requires that he becomes your exclusive doctor. Are you willing to make that step? I'm willing. Okay, you see, that's what it is. That's what salvation is. Go ahead and have a seat. You apply the blood by calling upon the name of the Lord, but it's by calling upon him alone for salvation. And it's through his blood. It's through faith in his blood. His blood, like the cure, whatever Garrett was going to give him, some kind of a vial, some kind of a pill, whatever. His blood is the medicine, as it were, that will cure you of your sins. That will cleanse you of your sins. That will purify you of your sins so that you can be saved. Let's bow our eyes and have a word of prayer. Father, we pray that you would please just bless our service to God. I pray that you would bless our soul winning to God and help us not to just go around trying to put a new piece of cloth on an old garment. But Father, help us to do diligence to get people to understand Jesus is the only way. It's through his blood alone and that nothing else can take us to heaven. And that they would call upon him by faith as their only savior, as their lamb, as their Passover, dear God. We love you and thank you for dying on the cross for us and shedding your precious blood that saves us. And in Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.