Nothing but the Blood -- God Provides
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· 22 viewsA message highlighting the Hymn Nothing But the Blood that describes how Christ's blood sacrifice on the Cross is our only hope for forgiveness and Salvation.
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Good morning New Beginnings! I am so glad that you chose to worship here with us this morning! There is something special, something energizing about being in the House of the Lord on a Sunday morning. If you are joining us live online, we are glad that you are here as well! Although, we do hope you will be able to join us in person soon. We miss seeing you!
This morning I will be filling in for Pastor Jordan. He is away on a previously postponed, much needed, and well deserved vacation.
He has asked me to finish up the series he has been doing on Hymns. So, this morning I will be wrapping up the series by looking at the Hymn “Nothing but the Blood,” written by Robert Lowry.
This Hymn was published in 1876, yes that was 145 years ago!
To place his hymn historically, here are a few things that happened in 1876, John Hopkins University was founded, Alexander Graham Bell was granted a patent for an invention known as the telephone, Thomas Edison was granted a patent for a mimeograph machine, Wyatt Earp started work in Dodge City, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” was published in the USA, The USA celebrated her 100th Birthday, George Custer died at the battle of Little Big Horn, and Heinz Ketchup was introduced to the world! It was a busy year.
Robert Lowry was born in the North East and was a popular pastor of several churches in PA, NY, and NJ. In was in his later years that he started writing hymns and Gospel Songs. He not only penned “Nothing but the Blood,” but also many other well knows melodies such as, “Shall we Gather at the River,” “Low in the Grave He Lay,” “I Need Thee Every Hour,” and “All the Way My Savior Leads Me.” PLUS LOTS MORE!
“Nothing But the Blood” is an amazing hymn based on amazing truths! These truths are simple and profound, much like the hymn itself. The text, which we will review in just a moment is structurally simple and communicates the very essence of the Truth that is the Gospel message. These truths are beautifully carried by a melody made up of only 5 notes and 2 chords! I would dare say that Dr. Lowry did not want the music to get in the way of the message!
As I said, the lyrics are quite simple. The first stanza is made up of two simple questions, both with the same answer.
“What can wash away my sin?” “What came make me whole again?” “Nothing but the Blood of Jesus.”
While simple, Lowry has touched on THE most profound truth in the entirety of Scripture. He is tapping directly into the very scarlet thread that runs though the Bible, Genesis to Revelation. That Thread is the promise, fulfillment, and realization of the offer of Salvation through Jesus Christ. This Truth must be dealt with eventually by all of us. That is my first point this morning.
You must React to the Blood of Jesus Christ.
You must React to the Blood of Jesus Christ.
This truth that I want to bring to our attention this morning is clearly presented to us by the author of Hebrews.
According to the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
If you read the Bible much, if you are at all familiar with the Old Testament in particular, you know that blood is mentioned a ton! Why is that? Why are the people in the stories and especially God so focused on blood.
In human history, especially early American History, blood was not understood. There was a time when doctors thought that if you were sick, say with the flu, or with pneumonia, that the problem was that your blood was poison! Their solution was to cut your veins and drain your “poisoned” blood out, or to put leeches on you and let them suck it out of you! Imagine, you are sick as a dog, you go to the doc, and they are like, Oh we got this, and they start stealing your blood! Most people in that time period did not survive their trips to see the doctor!
This is because they did not understand something that is clear in Scripture. Le 17:11 says, very clearly might I add.....“For the life of a creature is in the blood...”
If you drain out the blood, you are draining the very life out of a person!
Today we understand this. We even have blood drives and blood banks, and even blood buses! We hear slogans like, “Why wait to save a life? Donate Blood today!”
Blood really is amazing, it is full of fascinating stuff that is so small that you need a microscope to begin studying it. I will not go into all the details but here are just a few things the cells in your blood do for you. They carry oxygen to your organs and muscles, even to your brain. They help dispose of harmful substances in your body like CO2 and Lactic Acid. Your blood carries around an army of tiny white cells that fight off disease and infection. That is just to name a few things we understand about the biology of blood.
That same passage in Leviticus tells us another thing that blood does for mankind. And it is this purpose that our Hymn writer was proclaiming in our hymn this week.
Le 17:11
For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have appointed it to you to make atonement on the altar for your lives, since it is the lifeblood that makes atonement.
God established very early, in fact right after Adam and Eve first sinned, that only a blood sacrifice, the shedding and offering of blood, could atone for the sin of a man or a woman. “It is the lifeblood that makes atonement” for sin. In the Bible, both the old and new testament explain that God will not forgive sin unless there has been lifeblood spilt to pay for that sin.
I guess before we go any further we need to establish a few things. Who
Paul wrote to the Romans Romans 3:23 that
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
My next point this morning is this,
You must Realize that you are a sinner.
You must Realize that you are a sinner.
You must Realize that your sin has run up a debt that you cannot pay.
You must Realize that your sin has run up a debt that you cannot pay.
We all have trespassed against God’s law. We all have went against His plan for our lives, and that deviation started shortly after we drew our first breath on this planet! No one had to teach me how to lie. No one taught me how to steal. No one taught me how to be disrespectful. No one taught me how to lose my temper. All of those things are natural talents!
Natural and sinful. These sins, each and every one of them, and all the others that I drag around are enough to condemn me. I need redemption, I need forgiveness, I need atonement, I need a blood sacrifice in order for my debt to God to be made right, for it to be paid.
Sin, law breaking, wrong doing in the eyes of a Just and Holy God, separates us from God. Sin is what makes it impossible for us to be in the presence of God. It is what got Adam and Eve kicked out of God’s presence and out of the Garden of Eden. It is what keeps us from walking with God here on Earth, and will certainly keep us out of Heaven after we die.
In the old testament, God made a work around. He allowed for a sacrifice, for the shedding of the lifeblood of goats, sheep, and calves to be offered in payment for personal sins.
All of this bloodshed was a foreshadowing, pointing toward the blood that would eventually be shed by the perfect sacrifice that would be sufficient to pay for, atone for, the sins of any who repents.
Hebrews 9:12 , talking about Jesus, says,
He entered the most holy place once for all, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.
What can wash away my sin? What can make me whole again? Nothing but the Blood of Jesus!
For my Pardon this I see! For my Cleansing, this my plea! Nothing but the Blood of Jesus.
Today, we can only be pardoned, we can only be cleansed of sin, by the by the Blood of Christ.
Jesus said in Matthew,
Mt 26:28
For this is My blood that establishes the covenant; it is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Paul tells us in Ephesians,
Eph 1:7
We have redemption in Him through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
I am praising God this morning for the Blood of Jesus Christ! That perfect sinless blood sacrifice poured out at the base of the Cross for me and for you. I am praising God that He cared enough for me to send His son to donate His lifeblood so that I could be be made whole again, that my relationship with my creator could be reestablished, that my dead sinful self could be be made alive again in Christ Jesus.
You know, it really is amazing. God has done all the work. He, the Creator of the entire universe, came to earth as a humble helpless baby, lived a difficult life, in constant danger, did it without breaking any of the rules that He had set up for us to live by, and then willingly gave up that life, shedding His blood for us, so that he could have a relationship with us! That is love!
john 3:16
“For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
Romans 5:8
But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!
You know what else amazes me? Even though God did all that for you and for me, and for the rest of the world.... Many choose to ignore it! Many choose to try to do what Cain did in Genesis and try to please God their own way, ignoring the Sacrifice that Jesus made. Jesus is pouring his blood on the altar for us, and many turn their backs and offer some turnips, some beets, and some okra on the alter instead!
It has always been popular to try to find your own way to God. Cain did it, the Children of Israel did it, The Romans, the Greeks, and Americans do it today.
Today people seek to find God through many avenues including man made religions and rituals. The most common though is for us humans to try to earn our way to Him. We try to do a lot of Good, or we try to be really good. We try to make a lot of money and give away a bit of it to good causes. Sure God will see what I have done, what I have given to the causes that He things are important. Perhaps that will pay my sin debt. We try to make ourselves important. If I am important, rich enough, God will have to have a relationship with me, He will have to let me into Heaven. We try to have our good deeds and actions out weigh our bad, like God has some kind of grand cosmic scale and he is going to weight all our actions and the outcome will decide out eternal fate. Bad news!!! One tiny white lie, one lustful look, one burst of anger, outweighs all the good we could ever do on this earth.
The Good News, or the Gospel is, that those things will never, can never outweigh the sacrifice at the Cross.
Morality may keep you out of jail, but it takes the blood of Jesus Christ to keep you out of hell.
—Spurgeon
In Order to activate the payment of your Sin dept,
You must Repent of your sins.
You must Repent of your sins.
People in the day of our hymn writer were seeking alternate ways, other than repentance, to God too. I believe that is why Robert Lowry wrote the words of the 3rd verse.
“Nothing can for sin atone, Naught of good that I have done! Nothing but the Blood of Jesus.”
We can do nothing on our own, but God is prepared! He is always prepared! Remember the Sunday School lesson about Abraham and Isaac from the Book of Genesis? Let me read a portion of it to you.
Ge 22:2-14
Genesis 22:2–14 (HCSB)
“Take your son,” He said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.” Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac. In his hand he took the fire and the sacrificial knife, and the two of them walked on together. Then Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, “My father.” And he replied, “Here I am, my son.” Isaac said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Then the two of them walked on together. When they arrived at the place that God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” He replied, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from Me.” Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide...
God did provide. He has provided for us today. The perfect lamb of Sacrifice. Jesus Christ.
The last stanza of the our hymn reads
“This is all my Hope and Peace, This is all my righteousness, Nothing but the Blood of Jesus.”
Let me close with a current and true story and a few questions.
My son, William, likes to give blood. I believe he has donated twice now in the past year. It is pretty cool and is something that I have never done.
We have already talked about how according to modern science and according to Scripture, blood is the source of life.
Just the other day, William received an email and I asked him if I could share it with you today. He said yes! :)
William, We are pleased to share that you have received a heartfelt message from a patient who received your 2 Units RBC donation. Your message was sent to OneBlood through our NEW Message My Donor program.
Message My Donor is an exciting program that lets blood recipients send a message of gratitude to their donor.
Before we introduce Message My Donor throughout our service area we are conducting a pilot version and you are among the first donors to receive a message!
“B positive that I really appreciate your donation. I have an intestinal bleed which requires a specialist to repair. I'm waiting for his schedule to get to me. Yours is the ninth unit I have been given over the last 7 days. Again, THANK YOU...””
How cool is that? And Yes, I am a proud dad.
A couple of thoughts. Before Christ, mankind had to offer up blood sacrifice after blood sacrifice every single time a sin was committed. This individual that took two units of my son’s life saving blood has already taken 9 units total at this particular date, probably more by now. This person needs a surgeon to heal him, a lasting solution.
Mankind also needs a permanent solution, and Jesus Christ has offered it. His Blood has permanently concurred death, forever forgiven sin, and stands with nail pierced hands outstretched waiting on your to call out to Him in order to have that Holy Blood Donation, that Perfect Blood Sacrifice applied to your sin debt, so that it can be paid in full.
The Chorus of today’s hymn sings,
“O Precious is the flow, That makes me white as snow; No other fount I know, Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
I promised a couple of questions for you. What are you going to do with the precious life giving flow of the Blood of Jesus? Are you going to embrace it? Or are you going to reject it?
My final point today is this,
You must Receive the Blood of Jesus as payment for your sins.
You must Receive the Blood of Jesus as payment for your sins.
1 JN 1:5-10
1 John 1:5–10 (HCSB)
Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him. If we say, “We have fellowship with Him,” yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say, “We don’t have any sin,” we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
What will it be today? Will you choose to continue to walk in darkness? Or will you choose to walk in the Light? Will you choose to deceive yourself, or Will you choose to confess your sins? If you will, He Will forgive them. He and only He has the power and the right to do so. He has paid the impossibly high price the only way possible, with His Precious Blood.