Fix Your Eyes on Jesus: Part 9 Power In The Blood

Power in the Blood

Hebrews 9

Hebrews 9:9 “This is an illustration pointing to the present time.”

Hebrews 9:11 “So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world.”

1. Tabernacle- earthly to heavenly. 

Hebrews 9:24 “For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf.”

Revelation 21:22 (NIV) “I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.”

Ephesians 5:2 “Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.”

- We must be a pleasing aroma to God. 

2 Corinthians 2:14-15 “But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God.”

2 Corinthians 2:15-16 “But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom.”

Hebrews 9:12 “With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.”

2. Sacrifices- animals to Christ. 

John 1:29 “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” 

- We must offer a continuous sacrifice of praise to God.

Hebrews 13:11-16 “Under the old system, the high priest brought the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, and the bodies of the animals were burned outside the camp. So also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make his people holy by means of his own blood. So let us go out to him, outside the camp, and bear the disgrace he bore. For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come. Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name. And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.”

Hebrews 9:13-14 (NIV) “The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”

3. Cleansing- ceremonial to conscience. 

Leviticus 17:11 “For the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the LORD. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible.”

- We must let Jesus cleanse our conscience, then we can serve.  

Hebrews 10:11-12 “Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.”

1 Peter 3:21 “And that water is a picture of baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as an appeal to God for a clean conscience. It is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

Romans 6:4 “For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.”

Tom Long- “People hunger for transcendence, but as a substitute they frequently get a religion of rules, procedures, and preliminaries. People are trapped in the vestibule, and they cannot get inside the sanctuary. They are busy, very busy, put to work studying the Bible, observing regulations about “food and drink,” organizing prayer chains and trips to the Holy Land, keeping rule “for the body,” planning the stewardship campaign, and generally laboring hard at the business of being religious. None of this activity is evil; indeed, most of it is good and useful, but it is not the thing itself, the thing we seek—access to the living and healing God.”

Hebrews 9:15 “That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.”

4. Blessings- temporary to eternal. 

Ephesians 1:3 “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.”

- We must have confidence in the eternal power of Christ’s sacrifice. 

Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”