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Look at Hebrews chapter 10 verse number 19. Hebrews 10, 19. It says, Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. The title for the sermon tonight is by the blood of Jesus, by the blood of Jesus Christ. You know, the blood of Jesus Christ is precious. It saved us from our sins. And what I want you to do, if you can please turn to Hebrews chapter nine, where we will be looking at primarily at Hebrews nine and Hebrews 10. And I basically want to talk to you about the importance of the blood of Christ. Why did Christ have to shed his blood? You know, why is that God, you know, put in plan the way that we are to be saved and go to heaven and have our sins be given? Why was the shedding of blood necessary? Well, I have an answer and I also don't have a full answer. I mean, this is basically just one of the laws of God to understand that in order to have sins taken care of, there must be shedding of blood. Look at Hebrews 9, 22. Hebrews 9, 22, it says, and almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood, there is no remission. Okay? And without shedding of blood, there is no remission. So we understand that the only way to have our sins forgiven is for our Lord God, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to be sent to the Father, to live a righteous life, to keep the laws of God, to be sinless, and of course he was sinless, and then to die on the cross, to take our sins upon his body, and then to shed his blood, and that blood washes us from all our sins. It was the only way to redeem mankind. I mean, if I'm God and I have a son, I'm the Father and I have a son, and I create some man and a man and woman, they rebel against me, and the whole world goes to wickedness, you know, just as a man, I'm not thinking I'm gonna sacrifice Jonathan for this wicked creation that I did. If it's the only way, don't you think if there was another way, God the Father would have just made it another way? If there was another way, you know, why would he have to send his son? Well, we see here that there must have been the shedding of blood, and it could not have been the blood of our average human being because we're bored of a sin nature. It had to be the perfect blood of Jesus Christ. And so if we just, in the same chapter, Hebrews 9 verse 8, Hebrews 9 verse 8, some people think that the reason, in the Old Testament, people had to offer their sacrifices, you know, the animal sacrifices, was basically to cover their sins or to get rid of their sins, because once again, we understand that without shedding of blood, there is no remission. All right, so is that why? Is that why they had to offer the blood of bulls and goats, the blood of sheeps and lambs in the Old Testament before Christ came? A lot of people actually believe that was what they had to do in order to be saved. Now, let's have a look at this. Hebrews 9 verse 8, it says here, The Holy Ghost, this signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing. So notice that, the way into the holiest, okay, was not yet made manifest. Now, if you think about what is the holiest? Well, when it comes to the temple or the tabernacle, you may recall that they would offer sacrifices every day, just nonstop every day, they would be offering sacrifices. There are different types of sacrifices in the Bible. I'm not going to go into all that detail right now. But once a year, the high priest, not the average priest, but the high priest would go into the holiest. He would pass the veil that was set up where the Ark of the Covenant was. There was this one sacrifice, a yearly sacrifice, where he would shed blood and the blood would be sprinkled upon the seat of the mercy seat. So that was the holiest. So could somebody enter the holiest in the Old Testament? Yeah, they could. But notice here that the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest, was not yet revealed. So this way of the holiest is not actually the temple or the tabernacle there. The way into the holiest, of course, is heaven. Okay, is heaven. He's saying, well, are you saying, Pastor Kevin, that the Old Testament saints did not enter heaven? No, that's not what I'm teaching. Okay, let's keep going, verse number nine. It says, which was a figure for the time then present. What was a figure? All the sacrifices. You know, the tabernacle, the temple, the sacrifices, the routine they would go through just shedding the blood of animals. What does it say? It was a figure for the time then present. Okay, it's a picture as it were. You know, in Bible, you know, when you go to Bible college, they'll say, this is a type. Okay, it's a shadow. It's the figure, it's a picture, something much greater than what was there on the earth. Okay, it was a figure for the time then present. So it's not a figure for us anymore. Then it says, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices. Now notice this. That could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience. So notice those blood sacrifices of the Old Testament. It could not make him that did the service perfect. It could not make the person that brought the sacrifices perfect. It could not make the priest that did the sacrifices perfect. Okay, so hold on, what in the world? So were they saved by the shedding of the blood of the animals? No, it could not make them perfect. Okay, as pertaining to the conscience. Verse number 10, which stood only in meats and drinks and diverse washings and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation. So the sacrifices, the meats and the drinks, the washings, the carnal ordinances, all of this was an Old Testament practice until the time of reformation. So in other words, all of these things were just a figure for the time of reformation. You say, you're talking about the Protestant reformation. No, that's not what I'm talking about. Okay, what is the reformation? Well, it says in verse number 11, but Christ being come and 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, not a physical temple, not the physical tabernacle. Okay, so this time of reformation is basically when Christ has come to this earth. Verse number 12, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. So when he entered in once into the holy place, is that talking about the temple in that day? Is that the holy, where he walked through the veil? No, we know when Christ suffered on the cross, that veil was torn in two, okay? In fact, the holy place that's been referred to, of course, once again, is heaven, okay? His blood is what was taken to heaven for our redemption, not by the blood of bulls and goats. Look at verse number 13. For if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of the heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctified to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? You notice that salvation is not by works. It is not by dead works. Salvation is by the blood of Jesus Christ. It is his blood that cleanses us, that makes us without spot before God. What a precious thing to have the blood of Christ applied upon us. Can you please go to Hebrews chapter 10? Hebrews chapter 10, verse number one. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse number one. So what I'm showing you, brethren, here, is that the sacrifice of the bulls and goats, the blood did not make anyone perfect. It did not cover anybody's sins. It did not make anybody look righteous before God. What was the purpose of the sacrifices? It was a figure. It was a picture. A picture of what? A picture of Jesus Christ. That he would come and shed his blood. That he would be the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. Okay? Now, a lot of the Old Testament sacrifices and just the ordinances and the practices, they were just to point people to Jesus Christ. They were object lessons of what Christ would ultimately do. Look at Hebrews 10, verse number one. Hebrews 10, verse number one. It says, for the law, having a shadow of good things to come. So the Bible refers to the law, the sacrifice, all these things as figures, now a shadow of things to come. What's a shadow? I don't know if you can see my shadow on this wall. I don't know. You might see my shadow before you see me. But once I come, who cares about the shadow, right? Once that, what was shadowing comes into being, the shadow does no longer matter. It says for the law, having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the things. Can never, with those sacrifices, which they offered year by year, continually make the comers thereunto perfect. You see, that sacrifice could never, no matter how much you offer them, you know, they were offered year by year continually. Nonstop, they were offering these animal sacrifices, but it never made the comers thereunto perfect. Verse number two. For then would they not have ceased to be offered because that the worshipers once purged should have not, should have had no more conscience of sin. So it's saying here, if he could cover your sins, if he could make it perfect, then why would they continue doing it? Like, if he could make it perfect, they would just have to do the sacrifices once and that'll be the end of it, okay? So he could not make them perfect. But look at this, verse number three, sorry, verse number, yeah, verse number three. But in those sacrifices, there is a remembrance, again, made of sins every year. So again, what was the reason for the sacrifices? To be a remembrance, a shadow, a figure that one day God will send his lamb to die for the sins of mankind, okay? That's the whole purpose. Verse number four, look at this. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. It can't be much clearer than that. Hey, that's a short verse, anyone can memorize that? I would encourage you, hey, maybe memorize that. Because you're going to be challenged by people that claim to be Christians that think people could be saved by the sacrifices of those animals, okay? Those sacrifices could not take away sins. Verse number five. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offering, thou wouldest not, but a body has thou prepared me. So Jesus Christ knew that his body would be prepared when he would be born in the Bethlehem's manger to be that sacrifice. Look at verse number six. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Did you notice that? God had no pleasure. You're not offering the bulls and the goats and the lambs. It did not please God. It did not satisfy his justice. It did not satisfy as far as the need for the shedding of blood to cover our sins. This is why it's so important that Christ would come to this earth in his body and shed his blood for us. Can you drop down to verse number 11? It says in verse number 11, Hebrews 10 and 11. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering, as I said, some of the sacrifices were daily all the time, right? And offering sometimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. I mean, this should be now, you know, it's been at least three or four times now that we've seen that these sacrifices cannot take away sins. But this man, speaking of Jesus, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. So you notice that Christ came, one sacrifice for sins forever. We don't have to ever do any kinds of sacrifice for the covering of our sins. We don't have to shed blood anymore. That's not necessary. You know, all the things done in the Old Testament, they were shadows, they were figures for the things to come, which was Christ, the time of reformation. Now that Christ has offered himself once for all, we can rest in that. We can rest that our sins have been forgiven. And the fact that it's not a continual sacrifice of Christ means we've been made perfect. Once you've believed on Christ, once you've believed on his sacrifice, his blood that was shed for us, you have been made perfect and you are sure you can enter that holy place, heaven, because of what Christ has done for us. Can you please turn to Exodus chapter 12? Exodus chapter 12. We're going to look at probably the most well-known sacrifice, which of course is the Passover, okay? That's the most common one. That's the one that was done on a yearly basis, okay? The Passover. Exodus chapter 12, please. Exodus chapter 12 and verse number 3. Exodus chapter 12 and verse number 3. I think it's important, it's really important that we understand that the Old Testament saints were not saved by the blood of bulls and goats. They were not saved by the laws of Moses. Because if you believe that, you're entering some really dangerous territory, which is another gospel. Another gospel for another time where people could have been saved. If you could be saved by the blood of bulls and goats, why would you? God said his son, his son who he loves to die for sinful man, because he was the only way to be saved. The blood of God must have to be shed, okay? Exodus 12 verse 3. Exodus 12 verse number 3. It says, speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, in the 10th day of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house. Drop down to verse number 6. And ye shall keep it until the 14th day of the same month. And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door posts of the houses wherein they shall eat it. So this is a very famous story. We know that this would eventually become the 10th plague that God will bring upon Egypt, okay? The plague being the death of the firstborn. And for the Israelites, in order for them to be delivered from this plague, you might say, well, they should have been delivered anyway, right? The people of God, the Israelites? No, they had to take the blood of the lamb and apply it to their door posts on the house, okay? And that, what is it? Did that blood save them? Or was that blood a figure, a shadow of Jesus Christ? Well, I think now that we've looked at Hebrews 9 and 10, it's very clear that the blood, these sacrifices were just pictures of Jesus Christ. When that blood was applied on the door posts, okay? It was signifying that this household, this family was protected and covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. Verse number six. I've already read, sorry, read it. Drop down to verse number 12. Exodus 12, verse number 12. Exodus 12, 12. 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 judgments. I am the Lord. Look at this, verse number 13. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. That's where the term pass over comes from. When God sees the blood, he's going to pass over that household. He's not going to kill the firstborn. And the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. Look at verse number 14. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial. Once again, the figures, the shadows, the sacrifices, they are memorial. And ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. Now, the end of verse number 14 is interesting. Ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever. Forever, you say, hold on. Are we still required to keep the Passover? Are we still required on the 14th day of this month to take a lamb and kill it and eat it together as a family? You know, because it says here it's something to be done forever. Well, don't forget, this was a picture of Jesus Christ. Okay? And once again, you need to understand here that the Israelites, even though they're already the people of God of the Old Testament, they still had to apply the blood. Okay? And this is what's so important. It's so important because we have many Baptists that believe the Jews today, they'll say, well, they're still, you know, God still has his eye upon them. You know, God's still blessing them and we should bless them, but they've not applied the blood. They've not applied the blood of the Passover. Say, what is that blood? Well, 1 Corinthians 5, 7, you don't have to turn there. It says, for even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. So it says Christ, our Passover. So that Passover of the Old Testament, what was it again? It was a picture, it was a shadow of what Christ would ultimately become, okay? He is the true Passover. The blood that was put upon the doorpost was symbolic or a figure of the blood of Jesus Christ that protects us. And so we do keep this forever. The moment you have believed on Christ, you've accepted the Passover lamb, you've accepted his blood, his blood is gonna keep you saved forever. We do keep it forever, amen? We do it through Jesus Christ. And so it's so important that we have the right perspective on this issue, that these Old Testament sacrifices, the blood was just a picture, a shadow of the blood of Jesus Christ. Can you please turn to Romans chapter three? Romans chapter three, Romans chapter three. So the next question becomes, well, hold on, I thought that's what the Old Testament saints had to do to be saved. Well, you may recall, you know, we've been going through the Jeremiah series, when Daniel and his friends and all the Jews that were taken into captivity, they couldn't go and offer their sacrifices, okay? But were these men saved? Of course those men were saved, okay? These faithful men of God, they couldn't serve God in the house of God, they couldn't offer their sacrifices, at least for large portions of the time, okay? But they were still saved. How is it that they were saved? Because once again, the Bible says, without the share of blood, there is no remission. We'll turn to Romans three, verse 20, please. Romans chapter three and verse number 20. Romans three, 20, it says, therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. When we read the law, what are we talking about there? Say, well, 10 commandments. Well, yeah, the commandments of God, yeah. But really, when people talk about the law, they're referring to the first five books of the Bible, the books of Moses, okay? Those are known as the books of the law, all right? And so what is contained within those first five books? Well, there's a big book there called Leviticus. The first seven chapters is all about the different kind of sacrifices that people had to do. I would say even the first nine chapters is about the sacrifices, because then they had to offer the sacrifices to basically ordain Aaron and his sons into the priesthood. And so when we talk about the deeds of the law, it's not just talking about doing that which is right and righteous in the eyes of God as far as our moral standards, but also the deeds of the law also included the sacrifices, okay? The instructions that were given to Moses for the sacrifices. But notice once again, that by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in sight, for by the law is a knowledge of sin. So even keeping the law wasn't something that they could do in order to be saved. So how did they get saved in the Old Testament? Look at verse number 21. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. How are we saved? Not only is it our sins forgiven, but you know, you may recall that the righteousness of Christ is imputed upon us. So when we stand before God, He sees us in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, okay? But notice that righteousness of God is without the law. You cannot get the righteousness of God with the law. You must decide, no, it's gonna be without the law. Notice the rest of it being witnessed by the law and the prophets. So Moses witnessed, because he wrote the law, all the prophets that wrote the Old Testament, they also made witness of this, that in order to be righteous before God, it cannot be with the law. It must be without the law in order to be made righteous by God. Can you all see that? Okay, so Moses writing about the sacrifices in the Old Testament in the law, that could make nobody righteous. So how were they made righteous in the Old Testament? Well, look at verse number 22. Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference. The Old Testament saints, the New Testament saints, there is no difference. In order for us to have the righteousness of Christ imputed upon us, in order to have our sins forgiven, it is received by believing, by faith on the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse number 23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The Old Testament saints had sinned. We sin, okay? And so you can see that the righteousness of God is by faith of Jesus Christ. If you've placed your faith on Christ and you realize it's without law, it's without being good, it's without doing the sacrifices, then you can be saved. This is why it's dangerous to think that someone in the Old Testament was saved by the sacrifices because you're not acknowledging that salvation is by faith on the righteousness of Jesus Christ. You're thinking it's by your Lord, by keeping the law, by doing the works, by doing the sacrifices. It's another gospel. Drop down to verse number 25, please. Look at this. Whom God have set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Again, constantly, just keeps reaffirming. Salvation is by believing in Jesus, by placing our faith in Jesus. It's without the works. It's without the sacrifices. Even the law, even the prophets, even the Old Testament believers understood this, that salvation was not by the keeping of the law. So the Bible's very consistent. Salvation is by grace through faith. Now, granted, we have a lot more understanding than the Old Testament saints. Now, it's hard to measure how much they knew. We know someone like Abraham, he knew a lot because Abraham was willing to offer the sacrifice of his son, Isaac, knowing full well that his son was a picture, an image of the resurrection. He was expecting that if I sacrifice my son, if I follow what God says, my son's going to be resurrected because he understood that I was going to picture the Lamb of God, the Son of God. So Abraham had a really great knowledge. Someone like Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 53, he writes in depth of the sacrifice of Christ and his blood shed. But one thing the Old Testament saints did not know was the name of Jesus Christ, okay? For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. We call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in order to be saved. You say, who do they call upon? Well, they're called upon Jehovah. And before they had the name Jehovah, they knew him as God Almighty. And that is the name of, these are the names of Jesus Christ. You know, when we call upon the Lord in faith, they also called upon the Lord in faith, but they just knew him by a different name, okay? So yeah, obviously today we understand it in depth. It's hard to go back in time. It's hard to go back to the Old Testament and try to understand exactly how they understood it, especially because it's so revealed to us. The mystery has been revealed to us in a great way. But it was still by faith. You know what, what this means is that the Old Testament saints could have been doing sacrifices continually, okay? Doing all the practices, but if they never placed their faith, they never called upon the name of the Lord, they wouldn't be saved. It would have other Old Testament saints in the past that did put their faith on the Lord. They did call upon the name of the Lord, but maybe they couldn't offer the sacrifices. They couldn't go like a Daniel, like a Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, right? But these people were saved because salvation is not by the law. It is by faith on Jesus Christ. The Bible also says in Revelation 13, eight, and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the lamb, notice this, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Say, Pastor Kevin, the lamb was slain 2000 years ago. Yes, he was, okay? As far as our timescale, but as far as God is concerned, the lamb was slain before or from the foundation of the earth, meaning that his sacrifice is effective for all, not just those that lived in the time of Christ, not just us that live now in this present time, but also for those that came before. His sacrifice was effective, even to someone like Adam and Eve, because he was from the foundation of the world. That was God's plan from the very beginning. It's not some plan B, okay? It's not some plan B as is taught in some churches. Can you please turn to Luke chapter 22? Luke chapter 22 and verse number 19. Luke chapter 22. We're now looking at the modern day, the church way of a memorial of the blood of Christ, okay? And we know that as communion or the Lord's supper, the Lord's table, there's a few names, it's all there in the Bible. These are all biblical terms for the same thing. Communion, the Lord's supper, the Lord's table. Turn to Luke 22, please. And I'm going to quickly read to you from Matthew 26, 26 that says, and as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to the disciples and said, take, eat, this is my body. And he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying, drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Notice that Jesus Christ says these words, this is my body and this is my blood. You know the Roman Catholics, they take that literally. Like they actually believe that the cup that they drink, they have their communion, right? They believe that the cup that they drink that actually turns into the blood of Christ. They actually believe the wafer, the little bread that they eat, that they eat in the flesh of Jesus Christ because they take it so literally, this is my body, this is my blood, okay? Look at Luke 22, verse number 19. Luke 22, verse number 19. Is this actually the body and blood of Jesus Christ? It says in verse number 19, and he took bread and gave thanks and break it and gave unto them saying, this is my body, which is given for you, this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after, sorry, likewise also the cup after supper saying, this cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you. So when we take part of the communion, the Lord's supper, and I like to do that sort of toward Christmas once we can have more people in the house of God, but we do this in remembrance of Jesus, okay? Now, when it comes to the Roman Catholic Church, they have this doctrine called, it's hard for me to pronounce, I've got to write it down here. It's called transubstantiation, okay? Transubstantiation, trans like transformers, okay? There's a transfer, there's a change and substance, there's a change of the substance. And so they believe that again, once again, they're taking up that wine, it gets transformed into the literal blood of Christ. The way for the bread gets transformed into the literal body of Jesus Christ's literal flesh. And they believe you have to partake of this in order for your step of salvation to make it to heaven. They actually believe you have to basically become a cannibal, okay? Eat the body of a man in order to be saved, to drink their blood and to eat his body, literally. They actually believe that, okay? And I quickly looked up a Wikipedia article just about this. Transubstantiation is according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the body of Christ and of the whole substance of wine into the substance of the blood of Christ. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that in the Eucharist, that's the little wafer, offering bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Christ. Okay, so it's not just the Roman Catholics that believe this, it's also the Orthodox Church. They believe this. And there are some Protestant churches like the Lutherans, the Methodists and some Anglicans that believe in this as well. That when they partake of it, it's the actual physical body of Jesus Christ, okay? Now this is crazy because they say this is part of his sacrifice, you know? We couldn't be there 2,000 years ago to see the sacrifice of Christ, but they believe they can come now and they can partake of his sacrifice, his literal body and his blood. But here's the thing, when the ordinance was introduced, it was at the Last Supper. It was before Christ was crucified. It was before Christ was crucified. So if he's offering the cup and he says, this is literally my blood, and then he offers the bread and says, this is literally my body. What do you have? All of a sudden you have two Jesuses on the scene. You have the Jesus that's offering the cup and the bread and actually the body. There's the body that's the sacrificed body of Jesus Christ, but it not yet had happened, okay? So it's just ridiculous. Like even the first time it's been introduced, it's clearly not the sacrificed literal body of Christ because he's not sacrificed yet. But they believe that it is today, okay? It's so crazy. But then the Roman Catholics believe a lot of crazy things. Now here's the thing. They actually, the reason it's so important to them is because they believe if you come into these churches, that you're actually before the presence of Jesus, like bodily, okay? You know, we all believe Jesus is here. We all believe that, right? Christ says in Matthew 18, 20, for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. We believe Christ is here. We come to church to worship Christ, to serve Christ, okay? So we believe he's here. We believe he's here in a spiritual sense. And that's good enough for me. I'm looking forward to the time when Christ comes back and I can see him face to face. But the Roman Catholics, they believe they see him face to face every time they have mass, every time they have communion, because they believe it's the physical body and that's what makes it so special. And holy, this great church that they're part of, right? Because the physical literal body of Christ is here right now, the sacrifice. And every time they partake of that, they're basically saying that Christ has sacrificed himself over and over and over and over again. And if you sin today, you better take part of that sacrifice again, over and over again. But what do we see in Hebrew is that Christ sacrificed himself once for all, once, okay? And by that one time, we've been made perfect. We don't need to participate of his sacrifice over and over and over again, because that sacrifice is done, it's dusted. In fact, his blood's not even on the earth, it's in heaven, testifying of what Christ has done for us. Please turn to John chapter six. John chapter six. John chapter six and verse number 51. Now Christ, when he preached, you know, not only did he preach things that were easy to understand, many times Christ taught things that were quite challenging, quite deep, very difficult. He was a hard preacher, okay? Sometimes he taught him parables. And you know, he would explain to his disciples the lesson of the parables, but sometimes he taught him parables because those that were reprobate, that he did not want to see saved, he did not want them to learn the truth of God's word, okay? Christ taught in many different ways. You know, he used stories, he used metaphors. But look at this in John chapter six, verse number 51. John chapter six and verse number 51. These are the words of Christ. He says, And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Wow, so it sounds like here, if we're just taking Christ literally here, sounds like we've got to eat his flesh, right? In order to have eternal life. Even the Jews respond in shock, verse number 52. The Jews therefore strove among themselves saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? That's what they think. They're thinking Christ is teaching cannibalism. You've literally got to eat my flesh. How can you do that? Verse number 53. Look, Jesus doesn't make it any easier for them, okay? He says in verse number 53, Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, truly, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, if that's not good enough, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life. And I will raise him up at the last day. Now, brethren, do you have eternal life? Amen, I do. Yeah, of course. If we do, then what have we done? If we have it, what have we done? We've eaten of his flesh. We've drunk of his blood. Pastor Kevin, are you talking about communion? No, I'm not talking about communion, okay? Let's have a look. Let's keep going. Like Christ doesn't try to clarify anything for them. He allows them to keep thinking they've got to be cannibals to be saved, okay? Let's keep going, verse number 55. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he, shall live by me. Say, wow, Pastor Kevin, that really sounds like we should be taking him literally, that we need to literally eat his bread. Maybe the Catholics have a point. Maybe we do need to turn bread and wine into the physical blood of Christ and eat of it in order to be saved. Well, drop down to verse number 60. Because even his disciples start having a hard time with what he's teaching. Verse number 60, it says, therefore, sorry, many therefore of his disciples, when they heard this, said, this is an hard saying. Who can hear it? That's what we get the term hard preaching from. We can't accept it. It's too difficult to understand. It's challenging. Verse number 61. When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, doth this offend you? That's what hard preaching is meant to do, by the way. It's meant to offend you. And by the way, if I ever offend you as a pastor, preaching God's word, let it be so, because Christ's words can be offensive sometimes. But I'm not here to offend the new man. I'm not here to offend the new creature, which is sinless. I'm here to offend your flesh a little bit. Step on your toes a little bit, make you feel a bit uncomfortable. You know, when you feel that way, it's the flesh. It's that old man that's not going to heaven anyway. It's going to perish through the world. Yeah, let's take down that pride. Let's offend that old man so the new man can shine through, right? Let's keep going. Verse number 62. What? And if you shall see the son of man ascend up where he was before, now Jesus Christ explains. Verse number 63. Is the spirit that quickeneth? Look at this. The flesh profiteth nothing. If you ate my flesh, it's not going to profit you at all. If they could literally grab a body of the flesh of Christ and eat it, it's not going to profit them anything, okay? The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. So Christ was given a spiritual lesson here, okay? He wasn't saying he's literally, that you literally need to eat his blood or his body, okay? He says, no, the flesh profiteth nothing, okay? These are spiritual words. You know, Christ has said about us that we're the salt of the earth. Does that mean our bodies literally are salt that if you start eating me, or it may be a bit salty if I'm sweating, right? But you know, we're not the salt. Christ uses all these metaphors many times in the Bible, but the Roman Catholics, they get so messed up on this. They're just like the Jews. They think that Christ is literally offering his physical body and blood to eat, be taken, eaten of, and be saved. And so they've really messed that up. They say, well, hold on, maybe, you know, you know Jesus, he made it hard. It's a bit unfair on the Jews, right? It's a bit unfair that they misunderstood. But here's what you need to understand, right? The reason Jesus Christ did not clarify anything, okay, is because he already, before he even got to that lesson, he explained what he meant to eat of his body and drink of his blood. So if you go up a little bit further, let's go up to verse number 35. So before he got to the hard saints, before he got too complicated and uncomfortable for the Jews, what did he teach in the same chapter? John chapter six and verse number 35. John chapter six and verse number 35, look at this. And Jesus said unto them, so this is before he gets into the complicated stuff. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. So what is he saying? To eat of his body, to never hunger, would be to come to Christ. That would be the point where you say, hey, you know what? I need a savior. I need remission of sins. I need a sacrifice. I need my Lord Jesus Christ. You come to Christ and you no longer hunger, okay? Once you understand the gospel, what else? He that believeth on me shall never thirst. The drinking of his blood, as he was, in illustration is the moment you believe on Christ and you'll never thirst. You'll never thirst. Your hunger's taken care of. Your thirst is taken care of. The moment you come to Christ and you believe on Christ, you have symbolically eaten of his blood, sorry, eaten of his flesh and drunk of his blood. Christ gave the answer long before it got complicated. But because these guys were not ready to come to Jesus, they weren't not ready to believe on Christ, then they could not understand the teaching that Christ ultimately gave, right? They started to panic and think that Christ was teaching cannibalism, but it was always spiritual words. Christ already told them from the very beginning that they just had to believe on him, come to him, believe on him. They would no longer hunger. They would have eaten of his flesh. They would never have to thirst. They would have drunk of his blood, spiritually speaking. So as you can see, the Roman Catholics really get it wrong. They really mess it up, okay? Let's go to Hebrews 13 now. Let's turn to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. And we'll end on this one. Hebrews chapter 13, verse number 10. Hebrews 13 and verse number 10. Hebrews 13, 10 reads, "'We have an altar.'" So we have, what's an altar for? For sacrifices. We have one. "'Whereof they have no right to eat "'which serve the tabernacle.'" Verse 11, "'For the bodies of those beasts.'" Beasts as animals, right? Bodies of those beasts. "'Whose blood is brought into the sanctuary "'by the high priests for sin are burnt "'without the camp.'" If you don't know what that means, being burnt without the camp, basically some sacrifices, they were to take all the guts, all the dung of the animal, and basically take all the stuff that was unnecessary and go without the camp or outside of the camp, and basically burn it up there, okay? So that's what it's picturing here. It's a sin offering, if you read about it in the Old Testament. Verse number 12. And it compares that sin offering of the Old Testament to Christ. Verse number 12. "'Wherefore Jesus also, "'that he might sanctify the people "'with his own blood, "'suffered without the gate.'" So in the same way that the leftovers were taken outside of the camp to be burnt and done with, Christ also suffered without the gates. Christ was taken out of the gates of Jerusalem, taken up to Calvary, and he suffered without the gate. He suffered outside of the gates of Jerusalem, okay? He did that for us. Verse number 13. Because now this is a challenge for us. Christ has done that. He suffered for us. He took our sins. He's given us eternal life. So now what's the challenge for us, now that we know that Christ has shed his blood for us? Verse number 13. "'Let us go forth therefore unto him "'without the camp, "'bearing his reproach. "'For here have we no continuing city, "'but we seek one to come.'" You know what this is saying, verse number 14? Don't get comfortable in this world. We have no continuing city. You know what, you might live in Sydney for your whole life, but it's not your continuing city. Your eyes, your mindset ought to be on heaven, on the new Jerusalem, the one, the city that's built by God. This sort of, we're just a sojourn and we're just passing through. And so if we're just passing through, let's not get comfortable within, let's be willing to go without, right? Let us go therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach, meaning that we should not be like this world. We've been delivered by the blood of Christ. We should be different. Christ has suffered for us. Hey, let's suffer for Christ a little bit. Let's bear his reproach. Let's be willing to stand up and be witnesses of Christ and witness of his sacrifice. Yes, you're gonna be ridiculed. Yes, you're gonna be hated. Yes, people are gonna reject you, but we do it unto Christ. We have no continuing city. I don't wanna stay here. Praise God for his judgment on Sydney. He deserves it. Praise God for his judgment on Melbourne and judgment on Australia and judgment upon this whole world. He needs it. This is not my city. This is not my world. We know that Christ is gonna come and God's gonna create a new heaven, a new earth. We're gonna have to reside forever with him. You know, when we go home to be in heaven and we go and spend eternity with God, we're no longer at that point able to suffer or suffer reproach for Christ. This is our opportunity. This is our opportunity to stand for the name of Christ, to proclaim his blood, to appreciate what the sacrifice that he's done for us. And you know what? You get ridiculed and you get persecuted and you get hated. You do it unto the Lord. You get rewarded. Great are your rewards in heaven when you're persecuted for the name and the blood of Jesus Christ. So let that be the challenge for you. You know, Christ, with his precious blood, sacrificed it for us. The father sent his son. I wouldn't sacrifice my son for anyone in this building. I'm just being honest, okay? I love him too much. But then God, how much did God love us? To do that for us. It was the only way. It was the only way, you know, the blood of our Lord God sacrificed. So you know what? We should meditate on that thought and think, you know what? If Christ has suffered for us, let's suffer for him. Let's be different. Let's be the salt of this world. Let's be the light of this world. Let's proclaim his name. And if we get persecuted, so be it. We're looking forward to being at home in heaven. Okay, let's pray.