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Verse 11, where the Bible reads, For the life of the flesh is in the blood, I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that makeeth atonement for the soul. And what I want to preach about this morning is the blood of Jesus Christ. And the title of the sermon is this, The Blood is the Light. The Blood is the Light. Now we're going to come back to Leviticus 17, where the Bible clearly states that it is the blood that makes atonement for our souls, and it is the blood that is the light of all flesh. Return to the wood of the New Testament to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter number 1. This is an important doctrine to understand that our salvation is through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says in Matthew 26, 28, this is Jesus speaking, For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Mark 14, 24, he said unto them, This is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many. And if you look down at your Bible there in Colossians chapter 1, the Bible reads in verse 14, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Look at verse 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 of things at birth or things in heaven. Flip over to Ephesians, just a few pages to the left in your Bible. Go to Ephesians 1. While you're turning there, I'll read for you from Romans 3, the Bible reads verse 25, whom God hath set forth to be of propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God. Look at your Bible there in Ephesians 1, 7. And then we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, look at chapter 2, verse 13. The Bible reads, but now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. And we could go on and on and on. That's just a tiny sampling of all the verses that over and over and over again emphasize this doctrine, emphasize this teaching, that our salvation is purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. We are saved by his blood. Over and over the Bible teaches that. In fact, the word blood is used in the Bible 447 times. And usually it's tied in in some way with the blood of Jesus Christ, representing figuratively in the Old Testament the blood of Jesus Christ. The New Testament teaching us that we are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. Go if you would to Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9, toward the end of the New Testament. You say, why preach about the blood? Because it's mentioned hundreds of times in the Bible. Why preach about the blood? Because it's upon the blood of Christ that our salvation depends. It's not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. And he died on the cross. He was buried and rose again. That's where salvation is. But most notably, that salvation is found and that redemption is found, according to the Bible, through his blood. Now this doctrine is under attack. And this doctrine has always been under attack. That's the other reason that it needs to be preached because there are people out there who seek to teach that the blood of Jesus Christ is not important or does downplay the blood of Christ. First of all, these modern perversions of the Bible. Now I don't know if you saw the sign on your way in that says King James Bible only on the sign. It doesn't say King James Bible maybe. It doesn't say King James Bible most of the time. It says King James Bible only. Maybe you saw the license plate on my card that says KJV only. Because these modern Bible versions, the NIV, the RSV, the HIV, whatever version, they all pervert the Word of God. It's not just that they're a little easier to understand as people would happen to believe. It's not just, oh, it's been updated a little bit to make it a little bit more modern. No, it's been corrupted and perverted. Satan started out attacking the Word of God in the Garden of Eden in Genesis chapter 3 when he said, Yea, hath God said? Ye shall not eat of all the trees in the garden? Did God really say that? And today he casts doubt by putting out hundreds of different so-called versions that all say something different. And let me tell you one thing that pretty much all of them have in common. In Colossians 1.14, they leave out the blood. Where he says, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, they leave that out. And they just say the forgiveness of sins without the blood. They take out the blood in many places. I'm going to show you another place later on where they weaken the doctrine of the blood of Christ. But not only these modern perversions of the Bible downplay the importance of the blood of Christ, which is emphasized in the Bible. In the few verses I showed you, and I'll show you more as the sermon goes on, we saw it. But there are preachers out there who attack the blood of Christ. Now the most famous preacher out there who attacks the doctrine of the blood of Christ is John MacArthur. Now he's a famous preacher in Southern California in Santa Clarita. And this famous Baptist preacher denies and attacks the blood of Jesus Christ. Listen to some quotes from this guy. And let me tell you something. He is an unsaved devil. I mean, this should prove it to you right now. But listen to this. In May 1976, in his Grace to You newsletter, in 1976, he wrote an article called, not just bleeding, but his dying. He's basically saying, it's not the blood that saves you, it's just the death of Christ, not the blood. Listen to what he said in 1986 when someone confronted him on it 10 years later. He dug in deeper and still maintained that the blood of Jesus doesn't save. Here's what he said. Obviously, this is a direct quote that he wrote in 1986. Obviously it was not the blood of Jesus that saves. What? That's not obvious. The Bible said over and over again, the blood of Jesus saves. He says, obviously it was not the blood of Jesus that saves, or he could have bled for us without dying. Now what kind of a moronic logic is that to say, well, you know, if it's the blood that saves, then he doesn't have to die. Now that is ridiculous, because guess what? It's both. It is the blood and the death, and let me tell you something else. It's the resurrection. Guess what else it is? It's his virgin birth, his sinless life, his righteousness that is imputed under. See, he had to live a perfect life on this earth for 33 years in order to fulfill the law, in order to fulfill the Old Testament, and to live a righteous life so that one day when we would get saved, his righteousness would be imputed onto our account. Then he had to die on the cross. His blood had to be shed, and the Bible was clear in the Old Testament sacrifices. They were not supposed to strangle it. They had to shed the blood. It was critical. It wasn't just the dead. It was the blood, and it wasn't just the death. It was the burial, and it wasn't just the burial. It was the resurrection, and it's not just the resurrection. It's the second coming. You can't just sit there and single in on one thing and say it was just the death, not the blood, just the death, not the resurrection. No, it's all of the above, and this kind of man-made logic, we need to be aware of these false prophets who tell us obviously it's not the blood that saved. Yes, it is the blood that saved John MacArthur. He said this. When Romans 3.25 speaks of faith in his blood, everyone understands that to be a reference to his death, not the blood running through his body. So every person, I guess, who's ever lived who picked up Romans 3.25, when it said, in whom we have propitiation through faith in his blood, the forgiveness of sin, everybody knew that, well, it doesn't really mean blood there. It just means the fact that he died. That's all it means. Here's what he continued to say. Romans 5.9, being justified by his blood, also refers to his death, as verse 10 makes clear in saying, we're reconciled to God by the death of his son. Oh, nobody's denying the fact that he died, John MacArthur. You're the one who's denying the blood. We confess both. He says this. In fact, the careful explanation of salvation in Romans 6 omits any reference to his blood at all. Well, thank you for finding one chapter in the Bible that doesn't mention the blood. What about all the hundreds of chapters that mention the blood? This is what he said. 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. But that should not pose a problem when one is dealing with theological or textual specificity. I can sing hymns about the blood and rejoice in them, but I understand that the reference to be a metonym for a death. These fancy words and this terminology, why are you so smart, John MacArthur? You're going to split hell wide open because you only have propitiation when you have faith in his blood. Faith in his blood, John MacArthur, false prophet. He goes on to attack the word of God by saying that in Revelation 1, turn to Revelation 1 by. You say, why do you name the name of this preacher to expose him for the liar that he is? Because the Bible teaches us to expose false teachers. I know the little limp-wristed liberal down the street is not going to do it, but the apostle Paul preached against Phidelius, Hermogenes, Philetus, Hymenaeus. He named the names of the false prophets of his day and warned people about them so that they would not be deceived by their lies. Now, in Revelation 1, 5, the Bible is really clear about the importance and the significance of the blood. He says in Revelation chapter 1, verse 5, let me get there myself. 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. Isn't that a powerful statement? That he has washed us from our sins in his own blood. Here's what John MacArthur says to that. I may add a note on Revelation 1, 5. No, you may not. I may add a note on Revelation 1, 5. A passage which is confusing in the King James Version. Now, is anybody confused by what we just read? No. It's confusing because you're not saved, John MacArthur, because the Bible says the natural man received them, not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto them, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. An unsaved person can't understand the Bible. Any saved person is not confused by Revelation 1, 5, period. End of story. Of Mr. ESV, NIV, SUV toting MacArthur is confused by it. He says it's confusing in the King James Version. The word washed is not correct. The Greek word is delivered. No, delivered is English, John MacArthur. Okay, that's not a Greek word. Now, read for me, brother Garrett, there has the non-inspired version, the NIV, the most popular Bible in America today, this new perversion from 1980. Go ahead and read that for us, brother Garrett, Revelation 1, 5, nice and loud. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth, to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood. So there we go. It's freed us from our sins by his blood. Now, here's the thing, MacArthur wants us to believe that every time it says blood, we should just substitute day. Just the day. Well, notice, there it says we're freed by his blood in the NIV. Okay, so basically we're freed by his death. But see, in the King James Version, it says we're washed by the blood. You don't get washed by the dead, you get washed by the blood. So you see how these versions, not only does the NIV take out references to the blood wholesale, like in Colossians 1, 14, but it also changes the parts that it does leave in about the blood. It changes them to weaken the significance of the blood and to change the meaning of scriptures about the blood. And I can go on and on exposing John MacArthur's other heresies of teaching works, salvation, lords of salvation, Calvinism, and all that other doctrine. But just the fact that he attacks the blood of Jesus Christ should show you, hey, we need to stay away from this guy. This guy's a false prophet. And you say, why talk about him? I was in an independent fundamental Baptist church recently. And it was a great church. And a guy walked up to me in that church and said, Pastor Anderson, there was something about your sermon that was a little bit confusing to me. Now, first of all, that right away told me, you know, something's wrong here, because when I preach, people aren't confused. Now, people might not like the sermon, or they might not agree with it, but nobody ever walks out of my sermons confused. They know what I'm saying. And he comes up to me, and he's a little bit confused. And he says, because here's the thing. I was listening to Grace to You broadcast by John MacArthur, and I said, well, wait a minute. I said, you're confused because you listen to John MacArthur. I said, I don't have to answer for what he, and I said, that guy's a lying, heretic, blood-denying, hyper-Calvinist, work-salvation, ESV-preaching liar. I said, that's why you're confused, period. My sermon's not confusing at all. He's preaching lies, end of story. You need to quit listening to that guy. And that's all there is to it. Now, look at Hebrews chapter 9. I'm going to show you the significance of the blood this morning. It's not just the fact that Jesus died. It's not just talking about the blood being just a cute way of referring to the fact that he died. But the blood itself has significance today. And I want to show you that significance in the book of Hebrews chapter 9. It says in verse 13, For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifying 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? 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 either the first 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. Now keep reading. Read very carefully here, verse 23. 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 for these than these. For Christ has not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. Nor 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. Now we're not going to read chapter 8 for the sake of time, but in chapter 8 of Hebrews the Bible clearly explains that when Moses built the tabernacle in the Old Testament, he was shown an image of the true tabernacle in heaven, and he was told, see that thou make all things according to the pattern showed thee in the mouth. You'll also find that in Exodus. God showed him the tabernacle. In Sacramento recently this group had built some kind of a reconstruction of the tabernacle. They read in the Bible and they followed all the designs and they basically wanted to build a model of what the tabernacle looked like for educational purposes. Truly could they really make it exactly look like what was in the Old Testament without really seeing it? You can read about it and you can get the specs on it, but here's the thing, when Moses made it he literally saw the pattern. The Bible says that the true tabernacle was never on this earth or made with hands. The Bible says that there's a tabernacle in heaven, and that the tabernacle on this earth was patterned after the tabernacle in heaven. We saw it in chapter 8 and 9. He also says that the altar and the holy place and the most holy place also exist in heaven, and that the one on earth was just a figure of the true. It's just a picture of the real one. And the Bible says that when Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, he did not enter into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true but in the heaven itself. And then he says, wait a minute, the high priest on this earth, he goes into the holy place every year with what? With blood of others. He takes the blood of the lamb into the holy place once a year. He sprinkles the blood on the mercy seat to make an atonement for the souls of men. But he said, you know what? It's not possible for the blood of bulls and of goats to take away sins in chapter 10. You really have to read 8, 9, and 10 to get the whole picture. But in chapter 10 he says that the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sins. He said it just pictured the blood of Christ because according to Hebrews 9, crystal clear, Jesus Christ literally, are you listening to me? Literally took his blood that he shed on the cross and he entered into the holy place in heaven, not the one on this earth, the man-made, he went into the tabernacle not made with hands, into heaven itself, he sprinkled the blood one time for all. And that is what made an atonement for all the sins of mankind, for all time that whosoever believeth in him might receive the remission of sins. One time, look, he literally entered into heaven. He didn't say that the one in heaven is figurative. He said the one on the earth is figurative. The one in heaven is real, literal. It exists and Jesus Christ, according to the Bible, entered into heaven in order to sprinkle that blood on that altar. Just as the high priest did on this earth, he did it in heaven. If the blood has no significance, then why did Jesus take the time to haul it all the way into heaven and sprinkle it on that altar? And the Bible says in chapter 12, boy I love the book of Hebrews, the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 12, let's go there actually and read it just so that I don't misquote it, go to Hebrews 12.24. The Bible reads, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that what? Now is that past present or future tense right there? Present tense, it's speaking better things. It didn't say it spoke, it didn't say it will speak. It says, it's speaking, present tense, and this is written decades later. It's speaking better things than that of Abel. Now Abel's blood, if you remember in Genesis chapter 4, cried out from the earth, and God heard the cries of the blood of Abel crying out from the earth. The Bible says that the blood of Jesus Christ sprinkled on the mercy seat in heaven. Speaking better things than that of Abel. So, did it just disappear into the ground? Nope. Did it just spill out of his body, fall to the earth, didn't matter, it was just the dead, he died okay, he's dead, the blood doesn't matter. No, that blood still exists today. That blood today, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, was carried by Jesus in his role as the high priest of our salvation into a holy place in heaven, into the mercy seat, and sprinkled seven times upon the altar, and that blood is still there, and the blood speaketh, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, and we are truly saved by the blood today. The blood is what saves. And so those who would downplay the blood of Christ are attacking the word of God, they're attacking the doctrines of the Bible and the gospel of our salvation. What's the reason for it? What would motivate someone to read all these scriptures and then to just come up with this, I don't know, are you just trying to be some cute new doctrine? Oh, I just figured out the blood doesn't matter. All you're doing is proving what we already knew about you, that you're not saved to come up with such garbage, to come up with such nonsense. The Bible says in Hebrews 13-12, since we're in Hebrews as it is, I mean almost every chapter of the New Testament we could emphasize this, Hebrews 13-12 says, Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Look at verse 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. 1 Peter 1-2, you don't have to turn there, actually do turn there if you would. 1 Peter 1-2, Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and, what? Sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Not just the blood spilled and shed on the cross, but the Bible says the sprinkling of the blood is what saves. You don't sprinkle death, you sprinkle the blood. And the blood was sprinkled how many times? Once in the mercy seat in heaven. It's still there today, speaking of our salvation. The Bible says in verse 18, For as much 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. Now the word redemption means to be bought back. For example, if someone is sold into slavery, and then they're redeemed, that means somebody, their friend or loved one or family, would buy them out and then set them free, and buy them out of their slavery. It's sort of like the bottles that you buy in California where you have to put that deposit down. You have to do that in Arizona, I don't think so. But you pay a deposit. And it says, CA redemption value five cents. You know, where you turn in that bottle for money. And in the Old Testament, obviously there were people who were sold into bondage and then redeemed with money. Well the Bible says here that we were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold. He's referring back to that Old Testament redemption that was purchased with money, that was purchased with gold, that was purchased with silver. And he says those are corruptible things from your vain conversation, received by tradition from your fathers. But with the precious blood of Christ. See these songs that we sing in the hymnal about the blood, they're biblical songs. O precious is the flow that washes white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. That's a biblical song. He said the precious blood of Jesus, as of a lamb, without blemish and without spot. See the blood has value. The word precious, the first three letters there, they come from the same root word as our word price, like a price tag. Precious means costly. He's comparing the blood to gold and silver, saying gold and silver is nothing in price compared to the blood of Christ. So the blood has value because it's more valuable than gold, it's more valuable than silver. It's eternal. It is incorruptible. You see, gold and silver are corruptible. They will pass away with this earth. The blood of Jesus did not pass away. The blood of Jesus Christ still exists today. And the Bible says in verse 19, with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb, without blemish and without spot. 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. We could go on and on. But the blood first comes up in Genesis chapter 3, when Adam and Eve sinned against God, and basically God had to slay that lamb in Genesis 3 in order to provide them coats of skins. That blood had to be shed as a picture of the blood that Christ would shed. So we start talking about the blood in Genesis chapter 3, when man first sins. That's where the blood comes in, right there. And you know when we see the blood all the way through the Bible? Until Revelation 19, when we see Jesus Christ returning with all the saints, and He's coming on a white horse, and the Bible says He has a name written on His vesture and on His thigh called the Word of God. He's the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, coming to rule and reign on this earth, and the Bible says that He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood. Even His clothing is dipped. Now look, if you dipped your clothing in blood, it's going to be completely blood red. I mean, you know, if you dip it in the blood, I mean, there's going to be no part of it. You know, blood stains severely. I mean, it's hard to get those blood stains out, okay? I was working a couple days ago, I think it was on Friday I was working, and I chocked open my finger, and you know, your fingers and your head seem to bleed like no other parts of your body. And so I chocked open my finger, I was working, and just the blood was just dripping out. You know, it's getting on my clothes, and it's hard to get that stuff off, you know, especially once it dries. You know, blood definitely stains, and if you were to dip a vesture in blood, I mean, it's going to be a blood red vesture, and blood stains will be there, and He wore a vesture, He wore clothing that was literally blood red, symbolizing the importance of the blood, all the way from the beginning to the end. Picturing, of course, where they dipped Joseph's robe in blood in Genesis, another great picture of the blood of Christ. I mean, we could go on and on and on and on and on about how the blood of Christ is important and how salvation's through His blood, and in the Old Testament, it's emphasized, and the New Testament's emphasized. Let's go back to Leviticus 17. I want to show you some interesting things in the Bible here about blood. Because, you see, blood is really a miraculous substance in many different ways. You know, not to get on MacArthur again, but he said that there are people out there that are preaching heresy, that basically they think that the blood of Christ has some kind of a magical power to save people. Okay? Now, I know you're right next to Magic Mountain, John MacArthur, you know, theme park, but it's not magic, okay? But it is a miracle. I wouldn't use the word magic, because magic is like when people are doing witchcraft or Ouija board. You know, I call that magic. No, it's not magic. It's a miracle. It's a wonder. And I like the song. There is power, power, wonder-working power in the blood of the Lamb. Because blood is truly a miraculous substance. Now, spiritually, blood is what gives us eternal life. The blood of Christ is what gives us life. We get life through His blood, according to John 6 and many other places. It's the blood of Christ that saves us and regenerates us and gives us eternal life. But did you know that it is our blood today, physically, that is the miraculous substance that is keeping us alive today? Let me show you what I mean. Go to Leviticus 17. The Bible reads in Leviticus 17, 11, third book in the Bible. 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 to make an atonement for the soul. Look at verse 14. For it is the life of all flesh. He's even talking about animals. He says the blood of it is for the life thereof. Therefore I said to the children of Israel, you shall eat the blood of no matter of flesh, for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof. Whosoever eateth it shall be cut off. Go back to Genesis chapter 9. And while you're turning to Genesis chapter 9, I'll read for you from Deuteronomy 12, verse 23. The Bible reads, Only be sure that thou eat not the blood. So God's telling them don't ever eat blood because he says it's a sin for you to eat blood. The blood is the life of the flesh, and you're not supposed to eat it. And he's reiterating this over and over again. Verse 23 of Deuteronomy 12, you're turning to Genesis 9. Only be sure that thou eat not the blood, for the blood is the life. I mean, he's defining it. The blood is the life. And thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh, thou shalt not eat it. Thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water, thou shalt not eat it, that it may go well with thee and with thy children and after thee, when thou do that which is right in the sight of the Lord. But even before Moses, God tells this to Noah right when Noah gets off the ark. Before this, God had talked about man having basically a vegetarian type diet, eating plants and fruits and grains and so forth. But when they get off the ark, God tells them to eat meat. And in Genesis 9, 3, he says, every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you, even as the green herb have I given you all things. So at this time, they were told they could eat all types of meat. Later on, temporarily, they're told not to eat certain types of meat, you know, pigs and so forth, just for a temporary time under the Mosaic law. But at this time, God's given them the green light to eat all kinds of meat. And he says, every moving thing to liveth, he says, verse 4, but flesh with the light thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require. At the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man, at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso shedeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for the image of God be he man. So over and over again, God tells us, the blood is the life. It's the life of all flesh. It's the life of animals. It's the life of human beings. It's the blood that is the life. Now, truly, life is a miracle. Now, if you say life's not a miracle, I guess you believe that life is just something that occurs naturally, just normally in nature. Well, here's the thing. Scientists can't reproduce it. They can't make life. I mean, they can make a lot of things. They can do a lot of things. But they cannot, like Dr. Frankenstein of old, bring a dead body to life. It's impossible. They can't even bring a single-celled organism to life. They can't even build it in the laboratory with all the chemicals, all the tools, all the building blocks. They cannot bring anything to life. It's a mystery today to the unsaved and the evolutionists and the atheists where life even first originated. They call it a biogenesis. I call it the Book of Genesis. And they basically say, oh, something just came to life, and we don't know how. We're still trying to figure it out. They can't figure it out. Why? Because life is a miracle. Now, the Bible says the blood is the light. Now, think about this. What is it that's keeping us alive right now? Now, there are many ways that we could cease to live, are there not? There are certain things that we need in order to stay alive. Isn't that right? For example, we must have food to live. Is that right? How long do you think a person can go without eating any food and still survive? Does anybody know? You can go over a month. I mean, I believe it was Gandhi who fasted for over 40 days. In the Bible, Jesus fasted for 40 days. Moses fasted for 40 days. I have known somebody personally who fasted for 40 days. Now, it's not something that most people are going to be able to do or handle. You know, I mean, obviously, it's very extreme. I'm not recommending you to fast for 40 days. But if you drank plenty of water, it's possible to go well over a month without eating. Now, but you must have food to live. But you can go that long. Now, what about water? You've got to have water to live, right? You've got to ingest water. How long can you go without drinking any water? About a week and you're dead. And, I mean, you're already dehydrated. You're already damaged. Anything after... I mean, even just a few days without water. Now, in Arizona, in the summer, one day could kill you, literally, because you're losing a lot of fluids and so forth. But dehydration will kill you faster than not eating. But you know what you need more than food? And you know what you need more than water in order for your body to stay alive? You know what the thing is that you need the most? Oxygen. Oxygen. Exactly. How long can you go without oxygen? You're going to go a month. You're going to go a week. You're going to go three days? No. You're going to go about ten minutes. Okay. And even then, you're starting to have brain damage. Why are you shaking your head at me? Don't shake your head at me. But anyway, ten minutes and brain damage is setting in. After ten minutes, I think the longest anybody could live is like 20 minutes and you're going to be brain damaged. I don't even know if you could even live that long. Because every cell of your body demands oxygen to stay alive. It's not just you breathing, but every cell of your body must breathe. Every cell in your body needs oxygen and needs to continually breathe oxygen in and out of it to live. And without it, you will die. But here's the thing. Are you in Genesis? Go to chapter 2. And let me show you how significant oxygen is to your life today and what this has to do with the blood. In Genesis 2.7, the Bible reads, the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground. And here's what science is missing today. Here's what the evolutionist-biologist can't figure out. It says, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. That's what they can't recreate today. In chapter 6, verse 17, the Bible reads, And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, where it is the what? Breath of life from under heaven. He said, and everything that is in the earth shall die. Chapter 7, verse 15, they went into no end of the ark, two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. Chapter 7, verse 22, all in whose nostrils was the breath of life of all that was on dry land. So we see how that breath and air and breathing are related to being alive. I mean, it's the most necessary component of your life today. More than food, more than water. You don't have to turn there. But the Bible says in Psalm 104, 29, Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled. Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. He said in Psalm 146, for his breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, and in that very day his thoughts perish. Over and over again, Ecclesiastes 3.19, For that which befall the sons of men befall the beasts. Even one thing befall them as the one diet, so diet the other, yea, they all have one breath. You see, breath is associated with life. And I have a bunch more verses. One last one that I will point out is where Daniel is preaching unto Belshazzar, warning him about God's wrath because of Belshazzar's sins. And Daniel tells him, he says, The God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, has thou not glorified. He said, you will not glorify God. And he said, God has your breath in his hand. I mean, right now, God could just go like this, and snuff out your life by taking away the breath out of your lungs. Why? Because the breath in your lungs is what's keeping you alive today. The oxygen that you need to survive. You can't coast for 20 minutes without oxygen. You must have oxygen. Now, let me give you a little lesson here. I've got my whiteboard here. I'm going to give you a little chemistry lesson today. You come to church and you learn a lot. How does the oxygen get to the various cells of your body? The blood. And there's no other way to get it to all the cells of your body. I mean, your whole body is made up of all these billions and trillions of cells. How are they going to get the oxygen they need? There's one way for that oxygen to be transported to the various parts of your body, and it's through the blood. But here's the problem. Oxygen is a gas, is it not? And oxygen makes up 23% of our atmosphere. We have 76% nitrogen, 23% oxygen, 1% other gases. Now, that oxygen cannot go into your blood as a gas, because here's the problem with it. When you get air in your blood, what happens? You die, because of the fact that it makes a vapor lock in your heart. It loses pressure, you understand? And that's why you'll see whenever they inject somebody with something out of a syringe, you know how they squeeze out the liquid to make sure that there's no air in the syringe? And I remember when I was a kid, I was watching some kind of a murder mystery thing, and somebody went in the hospital and put the bubbles in the IV or whatever in order to kill somebody. And I mean, if you injected air into your blood, or if blood or air, and I'm always nervous, whenever I'm at the hospital, you ever look at somebody's IV and you see little bubbles and you're like, I don't know, should I say something or am I going to look like an idiot? You don't want the person to die, you know, you didn't tell them. So any air, any gas in your bloodstream will break that pressure lock as the blood pumps through your heart, and it will create a vapor lock, and it will give you a heart attack, and you'll die. So the blood cannot transmit the oxygen as a gas. Therefore, the blood has to perform all these miraculous functions to turn the oxygen into something that can be carried solidly through the veins. Now, how does it do it? Well, through the red blood cell, through the hemoglobin. Now, try to follow me, I'm only going to spend a few minutes on this, it's not a science class. But follow me for a few minutes because this is so amazing. Now, let me just first of all show you the most basic chemical formula that most people know, which is the formula, right? Everybody know what this is? What is it? Water, yeah. This is really simple, right? It means that water is a molecule that's made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, okay? Now, everybody knows this, everybody's seen this before, it's pretty simple to understand, you learn about it in the basics of chemistry. But let me show you a chemical formula that's a little bit more complicated, okay? Here you go, I'm going to write it out for you. Okay. I'm still going here, be patient. Okay, see that atom right there, a little more complicated than H2O, right? 3,032 atoms of carbon, 4,812 hydrogen atoms, 780 nitrogen atoms, 4 iron atoms, 872 oxygen atoms, and 12 atoms of sulfur. This is the molecular formula for the hemoglobin in the red blood cell. And by the way, this is the largest, most complex molecule found in nature. Now, isn't that interesting? That the most complex thing on this planet, as far as on a molecular level, is your blood. Now, that's pretty mind-boggling, isn't it? I mean, 3,032. I mean, these numbers are huge. But here's what's interesting, you know what the most important part of the formula right here is this right here. That is what your life is hanging on right now. Why? Because that right there, those four atoms of iron, is how your blood carries the oxygen to the cells in your body. And here's how. What happens is the air comes into your lungs. Do you breathe in a big breath of air in your lungs? And as the air comes into your lungs, the blood takes that oxygen and it takes this iron and basically these four iron atoms literally rust. Because you've heard of things oxidizing when they rust? Iron rust, doesn't it? And these iron atoms literally rust today. I mean, your blood is filled with rusted metal. That's what's keeping you on. And so these four atoms, in order to bring the oxygen in a solid format, instead of bringing it as a gas, those four iron atoms actually rust or oxidize. That way it carries it as a solid, iron oxide. Then it brings it to the cells that need it, and as soon as it gets to the cells that need it, it reverses the process, turns it back into a gas, and puts that oxygen gas into the cell that needs it. But now it has to take away the byproduct, the waste product, which is the carbon dioxide primarily that you're going to breathe out of your lungs. And so the red blood cell goes in, it unrusts itself, drops off the oxygen gas, the O2 atom, then it kicks up the load of carbon dioxide. But here's the problem again. Carbon dioxide's a gas, so it can't carry carbon dioxide in the bloodstream. So it has to turn it into a solid as well. So at that point, it hydrates it with H2O and forms bicarbonate. First it forms carbonic acid, and then the carbonic acid is deadly. It'll kill you. So then it has to instantly neutralize it, turn it into bicarbonate, which then links up to the salt in your bloodstream to form basically baking soda, sodium bicarbonate. Then the baking soda is carried through your blood. Listen to this. Baking soda. So it takes a poisonous gas, carbon dioxide, turns it into a carbonic acid, which is also poisonous, which will also kill you. So then it neutralizes it instantly. In a split second, it neutralizes it, turns it into baking soda. You carry the baking soda up to your lungs, but you can't breathe out baking soda. You can just imagine just coughing up baking soda. So when the blood gets to your lungs, here's the most amazing part of all. When that red blood cell gets to your lungs, it instantly in a split second re-puts everything back together. It has to take it apart again because it turned it into the solid. It has to put it all back together again, create the carbon dioxide gas, put it into your lungs, and grab another load of oxygen all in the time that it takes for your blood to go from one end to the other of a blood vessel that is one fiftieth of an inch long. And you know, have you ever seen pictures of blood coursing through somebody's veins? It's going pretty fast, right? Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And in that time that it just shoots by, I mean it just flies by, this tiny blood vessel, one fiftieth, this capillary wall that is one fiftieth of an inch long. As it blows by, it just instantly grabs up all the pieces, throws in the carbon dioxide, and it has to perform all these chemical reactions to do that. Grab the oxygen, rust itself, and head in for the next one. And it does all of it in a split second. How? Because of this amazing design, because of this unbelievably complicated design, and yet the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. This just evolved. This came from nothing. No, it's a miracle. It's amazing. Anybody would look at that, that is a reasonable person, and say, that is amazing. That is unbelievable. That is a marvel of creation. Why is it that in our bodies, the most significant aspect of our lives, and look, there are a lot of other amazing things about how the body works. There are amazing things about how the brain functions. There are amazing things about all the different systems that God has put in our body. We are truly, fearfully, and wonderfully made, but isn't it amazing that the most complicated molecule of all, one of the most amazing processes, and the process upon which our very life depends right now, is the blood. The breath that we breathe is transmitted through the blood. The life of our flesh is in the blood. As soon as the blood stops flowing, we die. Our body dies. Our cells die. As soon as that oxygen is not being delivered, we die. As soon as the breath is gone, we give up the ghost, we're gone. We're dead. Just as significant as the blood is to our body, that's how significant the blood is to our salvation. Just as significant as the blood is to the life of the flesh in our physical life, the blood is just as significant to eternal life. Truly, the life of all flesh is in the blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. Is there something special about the blood of Christ? Yes, there is. Yes, there is. Look, if our physical blood is that amazing, and that complex, what does that tell you about the spiritual aspects of the blood of Jesus Christ? What's God trying to show us? What's God trying to tell us? Don't ever be guilty of downplaying the blood of Jesus Christ. Emphasize it. Understand it. Comprehend it. Sing the songs and understand the great significance of the blood in your body, which, of course, modern science and scholarship. When George Washington was on his deathbed, they were draining the blood out of his body, saying he has too much blood. And then they said, as he died, the blood started coming slow and thick. What are you doing? Why are you draining the blood out of his body? Even if he would have been perfectly healthy, you're killing him by draining the life out of his body. But that's the foolishness of so-called modern medicine, trying to drain the blood out of his body. Now today, they'll laugh at that. Well, I laugh at a lot of the stuff they still do, because they don't use the Bible as their authority. And then George Washington later died as they drained the blood from his body There's a Bible sitting on the ninth stand that said right in it the life of the flesh is in the blood, and you're draining it out of the body. It's what keeps you alive. It is significant for the physical life. It is essential for life, and it's essential for eternal life. It's the blood of Jesus Christ that saves us. One last thing. In Exodus, when the Lord sent his angel to slay the firstborn in the land of Egypt, he said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. You see, the death of the lamb was significant, but they had to apply the blood to the doorposts. He said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over. And it's the same thing with salvation. The blood has to be applied to the doorposts of our heart. And how do we receive salvation? By believing, by faith. The Bible says that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. And this life is in his blood, because the blood is the life. You can't get life without the blood. You can't get eternal life without the blood of Christ. Let's borrow our example of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for the precious blood that you shed for us. And you've said that you've purchased us with your blood. You've washed us from our sins in your blood. Please help us to stand in awe and marvel at the miracle of our physical bodies. Yes, but even greater, the miracle of the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from all sin. What a miracle. What a wonder. Not magic, but very miraculous. And we love you and thank you for everything that you do for us. And we thank you for keeping us alive and for giving us another day to honor and glorify you with our lives. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.