Not only was there the blood of murder there was God’s mandate for the blood of capital punishment. No one with the ability to read can deny that God ordained the death penalty for various sins. Particularly in the case of murder, the Bible is crystal clear: “And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.” This is not a part of the ceremonial law of Israel, to be observed by that nation for the purpose of setting them apart from the rest of the world. This law is based upon the sovereign and creative authority of God, and was in existence long before there was a nation of Israel. Modern man’s foolish repeal of capital punishment is nothing less than an attempt to throw off the yoke of God’s authority.
Still, there is far more animal blood shed in the Word of God than human blood. And we may not even see the tip of the iceberg in regard to this subject. For every animal death of which we read, there may have been ten thousand that we don’t see. First, after the man’s initial stay in the Garden of Eden, or at the very least after the Flood, man was given permission to kill and eat animals for food. As much as some squeamish people tend to ignore or deny, it takes blood to put that hamburger or that chicken on your plate. So throughout the thousands of years of Bible history there was shedding of blood to feed those people. Even though there was no direct sin involved in that slaughter of animals for food, nevertheless, it was an indirect result of the sin of man.
But then here is a slight twist on this subject: Even though man has God’s permission to shed the blood of cattle, sheep and other animals in order to feed the family, it was flatly forbidden for those people to eat the blood itself. Steps were to be taken to drain away the blood so that only the flesh was to be eaten. Sure there might be blood still impregnated in that flesh, but it was not to be deliberately eaten or drank. Leviticus 17:10 is one of many verses which give a similar command: “Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people.” “It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood.” Israel was commanded to pour out that blood upon the ground. The eating or drinking of blood was tantamount to worshiping with the idolatrous heathen. This lead to Israel’s fanatical and almost superstitious rites in regard to their food preparation. The eating of blood is connected to sin.
But there is another aspect to the subject of blood which is even more directly tied to sin. From the very first sin of Adam, the Lord has required blood for the expiation and the covering of that sin. I quoted Leviticus 17:10 a minute ago, let me give it to you again, and add the following verse: “Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” From the days of Adam to those of Noah and Abraham, then to Moses and Israel, God required and expected blood sacrifices in order to cover the never-ending sins of man. So in addition to the millions of animals which died to feed Israelite bodies, millions more have died as sacrifices to meet the needs of Israelite souls. Foolish man may say that the whole idea is silly, but that is the requirement of God. Hebrews 9:22 – “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.”
Believe it or not that brings us back to our scripture from Romans 12.
So when the Lord was writing the constitution of the nation of Israel, He inscribed the law of the sacrifice into tables of stone. It may have been one law, but it came in a variety of aspects and segments. There were given to Israel a great many different kinds of blood sacrifices, and even some sacrifices which involved no blood at all. We could talk about the Passover and the Atonement – two of the most important yearly sacrifices. But there were other yearly festivals and feasts which involved national and family blood sacrifices. Then there were the daily morning and evening sacrifices – 720 every year, year after year, for the sins of the nation as a whole. At various special national events, sometimes as many as thousands of animals, were sacrificed to God. I’m thinking first of the purification of the Tabernacle and then at the dedication of the Temple. After these there were the various personal sacrifices: Things like the sacrifices of purification after sickness had been healed and after children were born. There were sacrifices for those who had made special vows to God and who had been blessed for them. And of course there were specific blood sacrifices offered by men and women for their sins. If these sacrifices were not made, then there would be no atonement – no covering of those sins. This was extremely important – this was essential. These offerings were expiatory – they did the job – when they were offered in repentance and faith. But they were expiatory – atoning – only because the grace and command of God made them so.
There were basically four kinds of sacrifices offered by the individual in the Old Testament. I’m not going to bore you with the details, but you need to know at least the names of these four offerings: There were the sin and trespass offerings, followed by the whole-burnt offering and the peace offering. The first two accomplished one thing and that latter two spoke of another.
And here we return to Romans. I have said several times that this book is divided into two sections. Beginning with chapter 12 we enter the second division. Romans 1-11 deal with the subject of salvation. Romans begins with clearly delineating man’s NEED of salvation. We are all sinners – every branch of humanity and every man, woman and child within every branch. Paul deals with the Jew’s sinfulness, and then the Gentiles’, and then he ties the two together. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” meaning that wages of sin – death – falls upon every single one of us. But there is redemption from that sin through God’s grace – found in the death of Christ Jesus. “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.” “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” You could scripturally edit that to say, “there is therefore no condemnation to them who are COVERED by the blood of CHRIST JESUS, OUR SACRIFICE FOR SIN.” Throughout those eleven chapters Paul strongly declares that it was by sovereign grace that God forgives the sinner. It was not through any personal righteousness or by any pseudo-righteous deed that the sinner performs that God responds with forgiveness. We are “justified FREELY by HIS GRACE through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
The first two varieties of Old Testament sacrifice – the sin offering and the trespass offering – were made to cover the transgressions of the sinner. They involved the death of the very best animal that the sinner could provide – the proper variety of animal. That animal had his throat cut and his blood spilt onto the ground, or thrown onto the altar, and then it was consumed by the special fire which God had previously authorized. There were a great many rules involved in those sin offerings. And if those rules were disobeyed, then there was no promise of forgiveness. For example, if some wicked man was caught in adultery, and if he was sufficiently embarrassed enough to offer a sacrificial lamb, but out of his hundred sheep he selected the oldest, sickest and most soon to die, the Lord would not recognize that as a proper sacrifice. Or if that man didn’t bring his sacrifice to the proper place, the divinely-designated altar, even his best lamb wouldn’t have been accepted by God. Of if he insisted on slaughtering the animal himself, instead of using the services of God’s appointed priest, then there would have been no atonement for his soul. There were many such rules – all simple enough in themselves.
And those rules all had a very special purpose and pointed direction. Every one of them in one fashion or other pointed to what Christ Jesus would do on the cross. They spoke of Jesus’ sinlessness, and each one of them was a substitution for the sinner. That sinner was supposed to put his hands on the head of the animal transferring his sin to the sacrifice. It was to be brought to the Lord’s altar, just as the Lord Jesus was taken to Golgotha with the cross upon it. The sin offering was to be consumed by fire as a picture of God’s judgment upon the sinner/sacrifice. Generally speaking, there was no feast after these sacrifices. The offerer didn’t take the meat home to his family to enjoy, although I’m sure that there was still a joyful return. In some cases, the priests could enjoy the meat which wasn’t required by the fire, but that had a very different meaning. If we took the time, we might be able to find a hundred points of similarity between the Old Testament Trespass offering, or the Sin offering, and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.
And those various points of agreement can be seen in Romans 1 to 11. But this morning we move on to the second division of those sacrifices. You could say that our message today is hinged to the hinge-word “therefore” in Romans 12:1. “I beseech you THEREFORE, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
At least a year ago, I said that even though Paul was writing to a church, it was one that he didn’t know well. Even though it should be assumed that most of its members had been born again, that is not always a good assumption to make. Therefore Paul dealt with the subject of salvation in its entirety. But having done that – having rethought Christ Jesus, the perfect sin offering – now he addresses the church in Rome as though every member was a true child of God – as brothers and sisters in Christ. “I beseech you therefore, BRETHREN, by the mercies of God.”
There is a sermon, in these words, which could be directed to me, and to any young man entering the ministry. I won’t preach it today, or at all in this series, but I wish that it was necessary because I knew that we had several people interested in pastoring or doing mission work for the Lord. But to summarize that potential message, notice Paul’s method of exhortation: He addresses his hearers with kindness and logic. He speaks with them as though they were intelligent creatures, who could respond to logic and common sense. He takes them to the Word of God as they possessed it then, and kindly exhorts them from its pages. As the apostle of God, he could have been more authoritarian and demanding. I knew a pastor in Calgary, who basically told his church, “It’s my way or the highway.” He told them what was going to be done, and if they didn’t like it, they knew where the door was. Unfortunately they found that door, leaving him alone and lonely. The minister of the gospel should be gentle, tender and affectionate. He should be kind in feeling, and courteous in manner, like a father or mother. Paul once told Timothy – “The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” Very little is ever gained by a sour, harsh, crabbed, dissatisfied manner. Sinners are never scolded into duty or into heaven. As they say, “flies are never caught with vinegar,” but maybe we should add neither are “butterflies.” No man is a better pastor because he is rough in manner, course, or harsh in his expression, and sour in his deportment.
Paul lovingly pleaded with his readers to properly serve the Lord – he “besought” them. I was surprised when I looked up the word “beseech.” It is the Koine Greek word “parakaleo” (par-ak-al-eh’-o) which is often translated “comfort.” I don’t know if it would have been more of a comfort to his readers or to Paul, to have them serving God. “I COMFORT you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
And what specifically was the service to which he was thinking? I believe that I’m going to have to leave that to a different message, because the subject is rather large. Let me just make a quick summary for you. Based upon the mercies of God which procured your salvation…. Based upon the sacrifice which the Lord Jesus has made for your souls…. It behooves you to offer sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving to the Saviour. It is reasonable; it is right; it is proper. Now that Christ has died to provide you with eternal life, the Lord isn’t asking for more blood and death. He is asking for your life, for your body to go along with your soul. He is asking for a living sacrifice which is holy and acceptable unto God our Saviour.
I close with a childhood chorus to which I have referred from time to time, because I love it so much. “After all He’s done for me, after all He’s done for me. How can I do less than give Him my best, and live for Him completely; after all He’s done for me.”
Have you been redeemed through the blood of God’s ultimate Sin Offering? Have you humbly bowed before the altar – the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ? Is your hope, your trust, and your love in Him? Then by the mercies of God, I beseech you to present your life and body a living sacrifice unto God. After all – it is your reasonable service.