Through the Bible with Les Feldick
LESSON 1 * PART 3 * BOOK 16
WITHOUT SHEDDING OF BLOOD, NO FORGIVENESS OR REDEMPTION
Now we are going to continue our look at the Crucifixion and all that it pertains to us, even though it is almost 2000 years after. So we will now be turning to I Corinthians Chapter 5. We pray that each of you are studying with us or have begun to. We trust that you are not just reading but are studying, and as you study the Holy Spirit will just give you wisdom and knowledge. I think He rewards us with that knowledge if we will just apply ourselves. Now here as we begin with I Corinthians we find Paul the Apostle of the Gentiles, writing to a Gentile Church there at Corinth.
I Corinthians 5:7
“Purge out therefore the old leaven (leaven has always spoken of sin), that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened (in other words salvation takes away the stigma of sin). For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:”
Do you see the language? Of course when John the Baptist saw Jesus coming, he called Him the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world. Let’s look at the passover lamb in Exodus Chapter 12 for a moment. Remember Paul says in Romans 15:4, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning,…” Notice it says for our learning, not necessarily for our doctrine. Now there is a big difference. As we learn all the pictures and types, everything that took place back in the Old Testament enhances what we have to understand of course in the New Testament. Here in Exodus 12, the Nation of Israel has been in bondage under the heavy hand of the Egyptians. God has been dealing with the Egyptians with the plagues. And the final plague that really struck home was the death of the firstborn. We all know the background on that, as the angel would fly over and every house in Egypt would lose the firstborn including the livestock. Israel could escape this death angel, but it depended on their faith. If they would put the blood of the passover lamb on the doorposts and then stay within the safety of their homes, then the death angel would pass over them. So this is the beginning of Passover, and the Jews still celebrate it even today in the spring of the year.
Now I always like to make the point that Passover and Atonement are two totally different feast days. Christ, of course, is our Passover, and we will be looking at Atonement in a future lesson. But for now let’s look at the Passover aspect. And that is the protection that was given by the blood of the lamb. So God says to Moses and Aaron:
Exodus 12:12,13
“For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.”
“And the blood (of the Passover lamb) shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.”
When we were studying in Exodus, I made this point; these Israelites who had placed the blood on the door, are now in their quarters, standing around that table ready to eat the passover lamb. Were they standing there in fear and trepidation? Or did they have that calm feeling of security. What do you think? Calm and secure, because you see by faith they had done what God had told them to do, and that was to apply the blood on the doorpost. Now their faith, of course, is what gave them their security. But God not only looked at their faith, He also looked at the door post. And when He saw the blood, that is when He saw their faith and gave them their safety. Now lock that in, that it was never without blood, and they knew that the God Who had said so would keep them.
I’ve tried to convince people that it’s the Grace of God that saves us. No one should have any trouble with that. You and I didn’t deserve salvation, that was God’s Grace. Many people can’t comprehend that same Grace is what keeps us. I don’t deserve to be saved for even six hours of the day. None of us do, because we just can’t live that perfectly. We would like to but it’s impossible, we’re human. So why does God continue to keep us? His Grace, His Grace, His Grace, I can’t emphasize that enough. The same goes for a lot of these Jews who were under the safety of this blood, did they deserve to be? Of course not. But they were there and the blood guaranteed their safety. This is what we must understand, that it was through their exercise of faith, but it was the blood applied to the door that guaranteed that the angel would pass over.
Now there are a lot of folk in our present time who don’t want to hear anything about the blood. But you can’t escape it in Scripture. You can’t go around, over, or under it; you have to face it head on, that from the very onset of the human experience, God has demanded a blood sacrifice before there can be remission of sin. That goes back to His Sovereign mind in creation. Where did God put the life of all living things? In the blood! Science didn’t catch on to that until World War II. It’s God’s prescription, and not any one else. Hebrews 9:22 “…without shedding of blood is no remission.”
Now let’s go to the Book of Romans Chapter 3, because it’s the Apostle Paul that has the revelations that pertain to us in the Body of Christ, the Church. Not that we exclusively read Paul, not at all. But so many of the things that were never covered in previous Scriptures are now revealed to the Apostle Paul. Let’s begin with verse 23. This is the first step for salvation. We have to recognize our need. We’ve got to see ourselves as God sees us.
Romans 3:23,24
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Everyone! No one has ever been anything else. Now verse 24:
“Being justified freely (without a cause) by his grace (His unmerited favor) through the redemption (or the process of buying us back) that is in Christ Jesus.”
Now that is what redemption is. It’s losing control of a piece of property and then the only way you can regain that property is to buy it back. God lost the human race when Adam fell. And immediately He had to put in motion the whole process of redemption. Buying us back, with a price. And, of course, the price was with His own blood. Now verse 25.
Romans 3:25,26
“Whom (that is Christ Jesus) God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood (you can’t avoid that because there was power in that Divine Blood. The blood system of the baby comes from the father and, although Jesus was born of a human mother, He had no human blood. It was Divine. And just as sure as there is Resurrection power, there is also power in the Blood. I still love those old hymns. As we will see in a later lesson it was that same Blood that was presented in the throne room in Heaven), to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance (or the mercy and Grace) of God;”
“To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness (not ours): that he (God) might be just (absolutely fair), and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”
All based again upon His finished work of the Cross. Now turn to Ephesians Chapter 1. The Scriptures makes such a point of the Blood that we dare not ignore it. Verse 7:
Ephesians 1:7
“In whom (Christ in verse 5) we have redemption (we’ve experienced being bought back) through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;”
Grace cancels out anything we can do to merit. Grace says, “I’m doing it only because I love you, not because you deserve it.” Now Colossians Chapter 1. Again Paul writes to a Gentile congregation as he always does.
Colossians 1:12-16a
“Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who (The Father) hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom (The Son) we have redemption (how?) through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” Paul continues in verse 15 to show Who’s Blood this really is.
“Who (Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created….”
Look at I Peter Chapter 1. Peter writes this just shortly before he’s martyred, a long time after he first preached back in the early Acts.
I Peter 1:18,19
“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from you fathers (but here is how we are redeemed); But with the precious blood of Christ (that is the only thing that can pay our sin debt), as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:”
We need to go back to Exodus to follow up on that verse. We have this whole concept of the Passover lamb and how Christ fulfilled it – how He has indeed shed His Blood to purchase our redemption. It all began in type or picture back here with the Nation of Israel.
Exodus 12:1-4
“AND the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, `This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. (April)Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house(or family): And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.'” Now,the verse we came for:
Exodus 12:5
“Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:”
And what were they to do with it? They were to pen it up for three days and look at it. Why? To make sure there was no blemish. They would examine that lamb everyday, and if there was the slightest thing wrong with it they would have to reject it for being their Passover lamb. But, if after that 3 days of scrutinizing they were satisfied that it was perfect, then they were to offer it as their Passover lamb. What was the picture? The three days represented Christ’s three years of earthly ministry, when also He proved Himself without blemish. He proved Himself worthy to be the Passover Lamb.
Let’s look at the Book of Hebrews for a moment. Always remember, regardless of what the liberals may say (I don’t care if they take all the songs with reference to the blood out of the hymn books), the Bible is still the Word of God, and it will never change.
Hebrews 9:22
“And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. You cannot by-pass the Blood.
I have always taught that there are at least two absolutes in Scripture. We can never fool with them, change them, detour around them, or compromise them in anyway. 1). Hebrews 9:22 “…and without shedding of blood is no remission.” Or forgiveness of sin. 2). Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please him (God):”
Now we will have to go back to Romans Chapter 3 again, with these two absolutes, and they are both mentioned in the same verse.
Romans 3:25
“Whom God hath 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;”
You can’t separate them. Without the shedding of blood there can be no remission, and without faith there is no salvation. What is the definition of faith? Taking God at His Word.Unless we take God at His Word we can’t get to first base with Him. For example, He tells us in I Corinthians 15:1-4 that for us to be saved during this Age of Grace we must believe in the finished work of the Cross which is His death, burial, and Resurrection. But so many people will try to skirt around that and try to come some other way, and it’s the only way. It has always been by faith.
Remember what the difference was between Cain and Abel? Cain might have been a nicer guy than Abel, but Cain’s problem was that He didn’t believe God. God had told them to bring a blood sacrifice, and Cain tried to come some other way. And you can’t please God if you can’t believe Him. Cain rationalized (he deceived himself), and said surely God will accept me without the blood. But God didn’t. Abel, on the other hand, did exactly what God said to do. And then we find in Hebrews 11:4, “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous,…” He was right with God. Cain on the other hand was rejected.
People are doing the same thing today. The human race hasn’t changed one bit. They say, “But if I do this or that surely God will accept me.” No He won’t, because God says, “Unless I see faith and the shed Blood, I can’t passover.” I can’t redeem you, My hands are tied.” So we need to recognize some of these basic truths, that when we place our faith in Christ’s shed Blood we have forgiveness.