========================================================================
  CLEANSED BY BLOOD
  by Fred Tomlinson
========================================================================

Summary: This sermon delves into the profound significance of being
cleansed by the blood of Jesus, exploring the themes of atonement,
sacrifice, and the new covenant. It emphasizes the central role of the
Holy Spirit in mediating the power and effects of Christ's blood into
our hearts, leading to forgiveness, justification, and acceptance before
God.

Topics: "Atonement", "The Role of the Holy Spirit"
Scripture References: Genesis 4:10, Hebrews 9:22, 1 Peter 1:18, Hebrews 9:14, John 6:53, Hebrews 10:19, Colossians 1:20, John 7:37

------------------------------------------------------------------------
DESCRIPTION
------------------------------------------------------------------------

This sermon delves into the profound significance of being cleansed by
the blood of Jesus, exploring the themes of atonement, sacrifice, and
the new covenant. It emphasizes the central role of the Holy Spirit in
mediating the power and effects of Christ's blood into our hearts,
leading to forgiveness, justification, and acceptance before God.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENT
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, Fred Tomlinson here and I would like to share with you something,
I suppose I could refer to it as a desire to highlight what it really
means for the people of God to be cleansed by blood. In other words, for
you, as you listen to me, to be cleansed in blood, what does that mean?
How should we think about that together? I realise before I get started
I'm touching on a very large subject, many of these things that we talk
about are huge, huge subjects and to try and compress them into a brief
session is not necessarily easy and almost always at the end of it all
I'm wishing I'd said something else or put something in a different way
but nevertheless, let me start by just saying this, that when I was a
young man studying my Bible, I became aware of the principle of first
mention. The principle of first mention is a principle of Bible
interpretation which observes that frequently within the first mention
of a particular subject, there's a sense in which God has sown into that
word or into that section of Scripture a seed of truth or perhaps seeds
of truth which will be expanded and explained in later Scriptures and I
found that to be just such a wonderful key to helping me understand many
things and it's with that particular principle in mind that I want to
turn your attention first of all to Genesis, we're not going to read
lengthy passages because I don't have the time in this session to do
that, I'm sorry, but I'll be referring to the book of Genesis, I'll be
referring to the book of Hebrews as well as we move forward, I'm sure of
that.

But you'll note that the word Genesis really means beginnings, the book
of Genesis is the book of beginnings and the remarkable thing about this
book is in the opening chapters of this book, we find it a kind of
seedbed of all the major themes of the Bible which will be developed as
I mentioned earlier as the Scriptures continue to unfold. And I'm
looking at this particular subject this morning, first of all because I
believe the Lord directed my heart to it just a little earlier in the
week and secondly because I think it's a tremendously important subject
for us to consider and to be helped in our hearts and minds to
understand what we're facing, what we're talking about and what by God's
grace we're experiencing. And thirdly, which really is the development
of the second point, it's because I think there's a lot of
misunderstanding even among Christian believers about what the Bible is
really saying and teaching when we read about being cleansed by blood.

I think frankly that there's a lot of misinformation that's being
preached, I believe that there's an abundance of superstition, I mean to
be talking together as professing Christian believers about pleading the
blood and covering with the blood and sprinkling with the blood which
are all common terms which we know are thrown around but none of them
have a basis in the New Testament and I think really, and this could be
a major diversion of my talk if I follow it more than to just say a word
or two, I think one of the biggest problems is a complete breakdown of
failure to grasp the distinction between the old covenant and the new
covenant and we get ourselves into a lot of trouble and that's where
some of these ideas I've just alluded to would find some beginning but
as Christian men and Christian women we've been brought into the benefit
and blessing of a new covenant, I'll talk about that a little bit more I
think as we go forward. As we look back into the book of Genesis, as you
know very, very well, we're looking at the way the scripture presents
the very beginning things so far as this world that we're somewhat
familiar with began and if I could just capsulate these thoughts by
saying when we read in these very early chapters of Genesis that which
we're reading about is very, very real, it's tangible, it's actual and I
certainly believe that fully and completely and yes at the same time
although the things that are being presented and discussed are real from
the vantage point which we have today that is from the position of
understanding something of the truths of the new covenant and being
familiar with the New Testament scriptures that we have, we look back on
those issues on that record that's back there about these real things
that were happening and we can't fail to recognize that every single
detail is incredibly significant and there's so much more to be said
about that. What I'm going to do this morning is to pass over so much
that we could develop from that starting point but before we do that I
do want to pause for a moment and just ponder for a moment the
superlative harmony that existed between God and his first people and
you're familiar with the story I don't need to reread that do I and what
you will also know is that as we move into the third chapter of Genesis
the unthinkable happens, the God who has created those two people and
with all of the incredible significance that is held there, the God who
we are led to believe comes down into that paradise into that Eden and
somehow fellowships with those people this is why I refer to it as a
superlative fellowship it's the highest that we can imagine as God is
there with them and communes with them and the unthinkable happened that
the two people that were enjoying that reject God they make a decision
to reject him in favor of what is of course a terrible deception and a
twist on certain facts and instantly from that moment that fellowship
ceased to exist it was broken ripped apart in that moment and there
would be consequences that even today at this stage in history are hard
to even begin to imagine in terms of the measurement and the scope of
what occurred back there which is recorded in the third chapter of the
book of Genesis.

The fact of the matter is God had told Adam and Eve that with all that
he'd provided for them that they could enjoy there was one tree that
they must not partake of for in the moment that they would partake of it
they would surely die they were told later on in scripture we read this
statement that the soul that sins must die the soul that sinneth shall
die is the old king James in the book of Hebrews in chapter 9 and verse
22 there's a there's a or there's a I'll read a little earlier in verse
21 moreover he and sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and the
vessels of the ministry and then verse 22 goes on and almost all things
are by the law purged with blood and without shedding of blood there is
no remission we're hearing the word reparation quite a lot these days in
the news but without blood or by blood alone to rephrase it by blood
alone there could be atonement or reparation and God hasn't left this
issue open for us to debate or to decide why he would say that or why he
would take that position it's not for us to question it's just something
that is clearly and boldly stated through the scripture and as we begin
to unpack this truth in a very I'm sorry in a very superficial way in
this session I can see that in that early section of scripture in
Genesis chapter 3 um that Calvary is being alluded to let me remind you
that nothing that was taking place nothing that I've just described from
the book of Genesis chapter 2 and what developed there on into chapter 3
none of it surprised God and God could not be disappointed you can't be
disappointed if you know how things are going and you're in control of
everything but so there's no accidents what God is going to do about the
situation is not some emergency reaction to what took place we believe
in a sovereign God who planned and ordained everything before the
foundation of the world and that's a sobering thought to think about in
this context um but in the third chapter of Genesis and in in in verse
15 where God is speaking to the woman he says and I will put enmity
between thee as I'm sorry he's speaking to the serpent I will put enmity
between thee and the woman between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise
thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel and I'd like to talk a lot more
about that but the fact is for those of us who are thinking of of these
things from the New Testament position we can't help but see uh that
here is a reference to Calvary and uh and it's again I think I'm saying
these things to help just strengthen the foundation of our faith in God
that right there at that point in time when things seem to have just
turned into chaos uh God was in complete control of everything and he
was working out his will and in this statement we can't help but see the
the the contests that took place and the tremendous triumphs that took
place at Calvary and that's wonderful and and then it goes on a little
further in the in the 21st verse of of chapter three I'm sorry my space
is a little awkward here I read in verse 21 and unto Adam also and his
wife did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothed them once again
clearly a reference to the atoning work of Christ this is where we find
substitutory atonement as it's frequently referred to where sin is
covered by a garment which is purchased at the cost of the life of
another clearly we there's no record of how God got hold of this garment
but we can't read it without realizing there is there is a reference
here concealed in this seed of the atoning work of Jesus at the cross
without sin there's no reparation there's no forgiveness there's no way
to deal with it except by blood and the would be the blood of another
there's no specific mention of blood being shed there but let me make a
suggestion let's imagine that we're looking at this scene in the garden
of eden through it through it through a camera through a lens through a
telephoto lens if you will and at first we've got this close-up scene of
Adam and Eve in the garden and the rejection of God the rebellion
against his words and the consequences being spelled out by the Lord
with these hidden nuggets these hidden seeds that I've referred to and
and and and then we we adjust the lens of the camera and we we back off
with it you will have seen this done I'm sure on the tv or somewhere
where you know you're looking at a particular item or a particular
object or phrase or place and then then the people operating the cameras
they sort of back the lens away as it were and you end up the object
you've been looking at begins to disappear into the distance and other
features come into view and you realize that the camera was actually a
lot further back than you realized and as we as we do that and we allow
this telephoto lens which is being put into reverse right now we're
moving back along the timeline of history and as we do that many things
begin to come into view far too many to consider now but for example I
would say something that's recorded in the 22nd chapter of Genesis come
into view this is where the Lord God speaks to Abraham and he says
Abraham and he said behold here I am and he that is God said to him take
now thy son thine only son Isaac whom thou lovest and get thee into the
land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the
mountains that I will tell thee of and I know I alluded to this in a few
sessions ago but the fact is that we read through this story and that it
tears at your own heartstrings as you read it but by the time I move on
to verse seven they're walking to the spot that God has ordained for
them and Isaac spake unto Abraham his father and said my father and he
said here am I my son and he said behold the fire and the wood but where
is the lamb for the burnt offering and Abraham said my son God will
provide himself a lamb for the burnt offering so they went both of them
together remarkable we see that scene and that statement of Abraham this
man of incredible faith he says my son God will provide himself a lamb
that you see once again this seed is there in this passage it's it's
very obvious to us as we read that that here is a reference to what will
take place in the fullness of time as we back the camera away or the
lens even further we we see another scene we could be reading in Exodus
chapter 12 and we'd be reading how each of the Israeli families uh have
a lamb which is slain and its blood is spilled and according to and
following the instructions of Moses they they spread the blood on the
lintel of the door and on the door posts and by doing that in obedience
to God and in a manner as God described they're protected from the angel
of death who passes over once again we see significance that can very
readily be applied to the New Testament story but this this this raises
an obvious question there's more that could be said of following that
line that I was taking but the question is this did the did these
sacrifices these multiples sacrifice these hundreds and indeed thousands
of sacrifices where blood was shed did any of that blood really restore
the fellowship that was known way back in the beginning and the answer
to that is of course a resounding no uh animals blood being shed was
being shed according to God's word but the fact is that process or those
processes were temporary they were they were an arrangement that God
ordained they were temporary and they would need to be repeated and I'm
looking back into that ninth chapter of Hebrews where I read that in
verse nine that these things were a figure note these words or a symbol
for the time then present which were offered both gifts and sacrifices
that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to
the conscience and then it goes on to describe some other wonderful
things but I break away the fact is no these sacrifices which were being
done they were being done in obedience to God's word but it was an
arrangement that God made for the time then present it would be true to
say and I'm borrowing this statement from the old King James in the book
of Matthew in a totally different context it has to do with marriage and
divorce for interest's sake but the statement that I want to make is
that God suffered those things that's the word you find in that ancient
record in Matthew's gospel God suffered it for the time then present but
here's the fact and it's important that the blood of the animals which
was being shed in order to please or appease God it had no inherent
value its value was that it was being done in obedience to God and it
had value because it foreshadowed something that was in the mind and
plan of God. God knew where it was all headed and it was his plan that
put it there and if we had lots of time we could look at the particular
sacrifices and we could see how each of them with all of their
particular detail foreshadow the fullness and the glory of the great
sacrifice that you know I'm alluding to but in order for sin to be dealt
with blood needed to be shed and in the mind and heart of God the blood
would need to be the blood of a man that would be shed and the fact of
the matter is that men's blood could not appease God's anger against sin
because every man on the face of the earth was already himself or
herself corrupted by the sin coming down the line from Adam in other
words there would need to be special blood as it were but it had to be a
man's blood nonetheless the need was for another man or catching the
idea that Paul introduces to the Corinthians the need was for another
Adam it's as though somehow everything needed to go back to the
beginning as it were and started again with a new Adam who would be
obedient where the first Adam had been disobedient Paul explains that
very clearly in the book of Romans and to deal and reverse this
situation and appease God's anger and bring men and women into
fellowship with himself as he intended another man a second man it's
interesting the way Paul refers to this one in the Corinthian passage a
second man a last Adam be the end of the old Adam and in order for men
and women to be reinstated into the love and grace of God there needed
to be superior blood there needed to be sinless blood there needed to be
precious blood and isn't that what the apostle Peter talks about when
he's writing in that little epistle and he I'll just read this to you
I'm reading for those of you looking on I'm reading from first Peter I'm
reading from chapter one and here Peter says for as much as you know
that you were not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and
gold from your vain conversation or vain manner of life received by
tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of Christ as a
lamb without blemish and without spot amen and God provided himself the
lamb he was without spot and his his bloodshed would bring into reality
a new arrangement between God and man and that really is what the word
covenant means when you get down to it the new there was the old
arrangement and the new arrangement God God ordained them but there
needed to be a new arrangement and that would be purchased by through
and through this bloodshed of this precious bloodshed a new covenant
which the rest of the Hebrews refers to as a better covenant a whole
different arrangement and that's what we're talking about and that's
where we're going and in our thinking but the question which is really
the central question in this talk on this occasion is how how should we
understand this blood making us clean and it's at this point I think
that some people lose the track here and and there's a lot of
misunderstanding I hope that in some small way God will be able to help
clarify this from his word here as we're looking at it this morning all
the methods of using the blood under the old covenant are now rendered
obsolete that's an important statement you know it's one thing to say
about to try and justify some particular action whether it's something
from scripture in some way or or from our own you know in our details of
our own lives we say well you know well it's written in the bible but
the important thing is we have to know where it was written in the bible
and who was making the statement and to whom was the statement being
made and all these are very important questions otherwise we can just
borrow a phrase which is somewhere in the bible said to someone about
something that we imagine can apply to our particular situation and at
that point of course that's where people well they twist the scriptures
and they end up in error and so we need to understand this that all
those particular methods of the blood being shed and the blood being
handled and and applied that we find in those new testament sacrifices
which were all filled with great significance but the but the the manner
in which it was taking place is now rendered absolute absolute forgive
me obsolete because we're looking at this from the context of the new
covenant and so now here's the next important statement that we must
understand that this blood this precious blood of jesus that was for
cleansing took place in heaven note that this cleansing i think this is
about the most important thing i can say in this talk this morning that
this cleansing that we're talking about was entirely done of god or by
god and it was done entirely for god for the removing of sin's guilt
from men and women that that that's the core issue other ideas come
creeping in and ideas about what we should be doing with the blood are
handling there's no suggestion in scripture that we handle the blood to
do anything with the blood god himself has shed the blood he's the one
who's handled it by his own holy spirit and it's been applied to the
throne of grace in the presence of almighty god that that's the issue
and and by doing that he removes the guilt of sin which of course would
otherwise bring about the the awful judgment of god upon our souls but
it has been removed from his people and their sins and iniquities have
been blotted out and the the condemnation that was all part of that and
which is continually whispered by the enemy is lifted there is therefore
now no condemnation to those who bring christ jesus or again i'm back in
colossians where i read that through the work of the cross he made plea
a peace he made peace through the blood of his cross what does that mean
it's not just my peace it's the peace that god was able to have with men
who were otherwise uh standing under the indictment of his judgment um
when we we've said before on other occasions we talk about being saved
but what do we save from primarily fundamentally we're talking about
being saved from the judgment of god as the result of that bloodshed of
our lord jesus which was ultimately taken into the holiest of all that
was done in the old testament through the eternal spirit and presented
to god amen and as the result uh the people of faith the people who put
their faith in the redeeming work of christ that they are they are their
sin is atoned for they are reconciled uh with a holy god sinful men lost
dead spiritually men are reconciled to a holy living god and and these
are great truths we're touching on they are justified in approaching him
um i i was reading to you a moment ago from chapter nine in hebrews um
um and that um the blood of old was a temporary arrangement we were
saying at that point but then we reach but christ this wonderful but
christ being come a high priest of good things to come the new covenant
things by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands that
is to say of this building 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 glory be to god and it's wonderful and and we
read i'm just dropping down to chapter 10 of hebrews where it says for
the law having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of
those things can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by
year continually make the comers there unto perfect for then they would
they not have ceased to be offered because the worshipers once purged
should have had no more conscience of sins but that didn't take place
but the inference there is but now in christ we've got an entirely
different situation there is there is such a thing as coming under the
sound of the of the truth of the gospel of jesus christ and and and
finding faith quickened in our hearts by his word and placing our faith
in him we are accepted in the beloved wonderful and the condemnation is
removed from us the guilt is removed to be remembered no more forever it
says and we are in that sense once purged we're we're brought into union
with god how wonderful uh is that now for this to become personal in in
our experience and i've really said it already but let me put it in a
different way and we need to reverse the camera the opposite way again
um i've kind of gone backwards and forwards a bit um but i'm turning
back into into the book of genesis you know that book of beginnings
remember first mention and all of that i'm in the fourth chapter of
genesis and uh there's there's a whole series of things that are taking
place here um the fact of the matter is that you know adam's two sons
cain and abel that they're making their their own individual offerings
to god and abel's offering was a blood offering and that it turned out
was acceptable to god cain's uh offering was different because you see
evidently he was a vegetarian and his offering was not accepted by god
and as the result of that cain's anger was stirred so much so that he
killed his brother he slew abel and and god had something to say about
this and i'm reading this in the 10th verse uh i'll read verse 9 of
chapter 4 of genesis and the lord god said to cain where is abel my
brother and he said i know not am i my brother's keeper and he god said
what has now done thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground i
could turn you back to hebrews in chapter 12 and i believe 24 verse 24
where there's a statement right back to this section here uh where we
read uh that the the blood of christ uh speaks better things than that
of abel's we're introduced to this idea of blood speaking our question
overarching us is how does all this become personal to us the blood was
shed by god for god it was presented to god to appease his anger toward
men and women now what about me what about us and so on and so we've
gone back to this passage of scripture and we've found this statement um
which seems unrelated in many ways but the fact is if you can remember
where we started seeds of thought sown which don't really mean a lot
there were real things that were happening but but from our point of
view we look back we say hey i can see something here and that reference
from hebrews ties it in biblically as well where there was a reference
to blood speaking god had it written recorded back in genesis 4 here
it's been taken up again in the book of hebrews and because the the
upshot of this is that the and the idea that's before us is this better
blood this precious blood of christ which which is presented in the
presence of god even as we speak now is speaking what is it speaking
it's speaking better things than that of abel you know we say sometimes
well such and such a thing well it just speaks for itself it's not that
the blood is talking it speaks for itself it's whose blood it is that
was shed that is now presented in the holiest of all the ultimate
holiest of all by its sheer presence there it speaks charles wesley
wrote oh love i love this is tremendous verse oh love thou bottomless
abyss my sins are swallowed up in thee banished is my unrighteousness no
spot of guilt in me remains while jesus blood through earth and skies
mercy free boundless mercy cries what a wonderful thought the speaking
blood of christ is speaking the mercy of god to to guilty lost dead
sinners like me and like you but christ his blood was shed on our behalf
and now exists before the holy presence of god and speaks forgiveness it
speaks the erasing of the the documents which are against me and so on
and i think that's very wonderful you know there's something else before
we finish off here in this genesis verse that i've just read to you um
because it it says um in verse 11 and now are thou cursed says from the
earth which has swallowed sorry which has opened her mouth to receive
thy brother's blood from your hand here's here's another one of those
seas another one of those gems not only do we have a reference to blood
speaking better things than that of able but here we've got this idea of
the ground having a mouth and its mouth opening up and receiving the
blood that fell into it amen we know we know from reading in leviticus
chapter 17 that the life is in the blood and we also know that drinking
the blood or drinking of blood was forbidden in the old testament uh and
yet here in this first mention we have this idea of blood being drank
and i think more could be said about this but let's quickly just zoom
the lens back again we're going to wear this mechanism out we're back in
john's gospel chapter six this time and and jesus is saying that those
that are around him uh must actually eat his flesh and drink his blood
or they have no life in them what an interesting thought it's um perhaps
even more particularly um um two other thoughts are coming to my mind uh
jesus in john chapter seven would would invite those that were listening
to him to come to him there's no reference to blood in this passage
they're inviting him them rather to come to him and drink if they're
thirsty come to him and he would drink and john the apostle adds a
parenthesis in that chapter parenthesis where he says that jesus was
talking about the holy spirit on that occasion and then in matthew's
gospel chapter 26 jesus is with his disciples in the upper room it's
that moment of the last supper as we refer to it and jesus tells them as
he passes the cup to them that that this is the blood of the new
covenant the blood of the new testament and uh the idea that i'm wanting
to just capsulate here is is that we've got this seed issue of blood
being drunk in the old testament all the way back at the beginning by
the ground on that occasion it wasn't precious blood it was very
important blood to abel we've got um we've got the whole idea of of
covenant being tied in the blood of the covenant and we've got the
eternal spirit the blood was shed through the eternal spirit were told
the the blood of christ the blood of the covenant the spirit who
communicates the blood and they're united together and really this is
the apex of my message here uh in this session uh but today today now
answering this question what about me how do i relate to all of this uh
today the holy spirit is given the holy spirit is here he's given to to
mediate to your heart all that they that the blood of the covenant
testifies before the throne of grace as i hope you can understand what i
feel i'm understanding a little in my heart the holy spirit is given to
mediate to my heart all that the blood of the covenant is now testifying
speaking before the throne of grace and i believe right now that the
holy spirit is ready to impart to each opened heart all of the virtues
of the very soul life of jesus to impart it to us as the result of what
has been done and what is yet speaking in this moment and what is now
being ministered to me in this particular moment by his holy spirit and
i believe that this was the original intent of god before he ever
started with all of this and it remains beloved his present purpose to
the disciples jesus handed the the symbolic cup and he said did you note
the words drink all of it drink all of it said jesus don't just tip of
it you can say well how did this work out well that's not the question
i'm looking at the words that were spoken jesus is handing to them
symbolically all that would be accomplished at calvary all that would
take place in the holiest of all as his blood was presented there all
that the holy spirit would come to impart to men's hearts and jesus was
saying symbolically to his disciples drink all of it drink it get it
into you drink all of it and jesus back to the chapter seven of john
where jesus is talking to the crowd uh speaking about drinking he says
that if you drink and keep drinking and there's another important thing
this this this is the issue it's not a once in a moment thing it's it's
to drink and keep drinking the ministry of the holy spirit into my heart
and in doing that i'm not called to handle the blood he'll minister the
effects the power the results of the blood into my heart and into my
being and into my conscience he will minister the life of this of the of
god himself into my heart and into my life he will minister the rich
blessings of this new covenant into my heart it it's all in the hands of
the holy spirit it's of him what do we need we need him it's not some
magical phrase or some imaginary idea of doing something with the blood
that we're never told to do and couldn't not any way but we open our
hearts to him and the holy spirit upon our opened heart receiving him
will and and with the practice being a continual practice he will
continually whisper into your heart that you are you are justified you
are sanctified you are forgiven you are accepted there is no
condemnation no matter what your past history contains and so on and i'm
encouraging you dear friends this morning to drink of this precious
spirit of god ever more deeply and drink ever more deeply into this
great truth with the full assurance of faith that he is faithful to
complete what he has begun already in your heart and in your life father
we commit these things to you lord maybe undoubtedly ministered this
morning in an awkward manner and fumbled through lord the human mind and
ability to grasp and minister but lord we pray that by your holy spirit
you speak to listening hearts this morning teach them what it means lord
that you have done and the benefit of it which is still being worked out
in shedding your blood for us lord you've cleansed us from guilt you've
freed us from condemnation you bring us into the blessings of your life
and we praise you for that and ask you to find a hearty response and a
continual response from each of our hearts in jesus name can i just say
if you if you feel that god has spoken to you and you're blessed with
this and if you're anywhere near the youtube channel that has somewhere
on it my name do subscribe there and perhaps you want to say something
to me and leave a comment there please feel free to do that and god
bless you amen

========================================================================
Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/DMsSmwVkDcI.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/fred-tomlinson/cleansed-by-blood/
========================================================================