What The Blood Cannot Wash Away – Part 2

Things That Cannot Be Forgiven

Hebrews 9:22

Pastor Craig Ledbetter

Bible Baptist Church, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland

27 Mar, 2016 PM

www.biblebc.com

I.       Introduction (Heb 9:22)

A.    The blood of Jesus Christ is the most powerful cleansing agent in the universe - completely washes sins away, and makes us white as snow!

B.     It is the blood, shed specifically on the cross that remits (erases, removes) sins from our record, and brings forgiveness from God

1.      From the time of the Garden of Eden, blood has had to be shed to keep people from dying under the wrath of God

2.      Worship required the payment of sin debts first before worship was accepted – so people had to bring lambs, and lots of them!

3.      Jesus was the final Lamb of God, that could take away the sins of the whole world

C.     But, as you see tonight, the blood just cannot cleanse some things - hear me out - let’s see what they are, and learn why they can’t be erased!

II.    Background - What the Blood of Jesus Christ DOES Wash Away (Isa 1:18)

A.    Your Record - all your past sins, present, and future sins too (1 John 1:7; Rom 5:9; Rom 8:1)! All your sins were FUTURE when Jesus died on the cross!

B.     Your Resentment (Eph 2:12,13) – the division between you and God. Replaced with JOY.

C.     Your Regrets - your conscience (Heb 9:13,14; 10:19). NO CHRISTIAN SHOULD HAVE REGRETS! Remorse is a different matter, but it must pass!

D.    Your Reason (motive) for sinning (Rom 6:11-18) - you no longer have to sin – the power of sin has been unplugged in your life, once you have trusted Christ! You have to start believing that!

E.     And the most wonderful things about the blood is that it is active (1John 1:7)

III. Review from Last Week

A.    The Blood Cannot Wash Away Sins That Aren’t There (Heb 10:17) - The Ghosts of Sins Past

1.      Sins that are Forgiven Already (Heb 10:10-18)

a.       Quit trying to confess sins that you surrendered to Christ long ago!

b.      Settle your salvation today!

2.      False Guilt (Mt 15:1,2,11,20)

a.       Religious guilt, based on religious traditions, superstitions

b.      Abusive Guilt – other people’s sins against you

IV. Message - What The Blood Cannot Wash Away – Part 2 (Hebrews 9:22)

B.     Scars of Sins Past (Isa 53:3-5)

1.      Your conscience can be cleared, so that the memories of the past no longer haunt you anymore - that is the power of Christ’s blood!

a.       You need to make sure you have actually REPENTED of the sins

b.      Then, if the sin still haunts you, you need to repent of letting the devil convince you the sins weren’t really forgiven – it is a sin to call God a LIAR!

c.       Then, anytime after that, just plead the blood (believe the blood) of Jesus Christ to purge your conscience – it may take a few dozen times, but the devil won’t be able to handle it! AMEN!

d.      Make sure you praise God for forgiveness (Isa 38:17)

2.      But your scars will remain - you cannot erase your memory – you are stuck with it

a.       The scars of what WE humans did to Christ, are STILL borne by Christ even today (Zech 13:6; John 20:26,27)

b.      Not even your memory will not be wiped clean in heaven - there will be weeping there, and sorrow until God Himself wipes away all tears

3.      Don’t be so foolish to think that all your fooling around in life won’t cost you - the scars we inflict on others, and on ourselves can never be washed away - if you are saved, you will give account of what you did with the new life that God gave you at salvation (1 Cor 6:19,20; Mt 12:36; Rom 14:12; 2Cor 5:10). So:

a.       Protect your health now - smoking, bad driving, drinking,

b.      Protect your memories - make them count every day! Turn off bad TV and songs - Christians should not have rubbish clogging their mind that they will carry with them into eternity!

c.       Protect your priorities so you don’t have lots of regrets and heartaches that the blood just cannot wash

C.     Sins of the Dead (Heb 9:27; Rev 20:11-15) - the sins of lives now gone - no blood atonement for them - there is a terrible lie put out that after death is when sins should be dealt with, via purgatory, or via a back-door in heaven!

1.      Once a person closes their eyes in death, there is irrevocable judgment

2.      You had to have made your choice for Christ in this life (2 Cor 6:2)

3.      There is no atonement for those who enter eternity without Christ in their heart - no way to get your sins taken cared of after you are gone - your destiny is sealed for all eternity & no way to pay off another person’s sins

a.       No matter the number of prayers, masses, offerings, pleadings by those still living

b.      The blood of Christ cannot forgive after the judgment of death

c.       You see, it’s like this: if you think that you can do good works, and keep the Ten Commandments, and say your prayers enough to get you to heaven without the blood of Christ, your works will be tested – but in the end, it is your NAME that God looks for, on the pages of the Book of Life - it only gets there by faith in the BLOOD of Christ, who is the Author of our eternal life!

D.    Sins of the Unsaved (Mt 23:37; John 1:11,12; 1 John 1:9)

1.      Unsaved people cannot be cleansed by the blood unless they want to be – their sins cannot be forgiven until they seek to be

a.       All sins are recorded against us as debts against God

b.      Going to the confessional booth, and to some priest to confess your sins to and get them one by one forgiven is a lie

c.       Jesus said come unto ME - Go straight to the One who offers forgiveness

d.      If you go anywhere else, and do anything other than just believe Christ and receive forgiveness from Him, then you have wasted your time (John 8:24)

e.       The blood of Christ CANNOT wash away those sins then

2.      You see, the blood of Christ is extended to any and all who want it, but only to them - it cannot be imposed upon all people, even though it was given for all people (1 John 2:2)

V.    Conclusion -

B.     What the Blood DOES Wash Away (Isa 1:18) If you let it!

1.      Your Record - your past sins

2.      Your Resentment – the division between you and God

3.      Your Regrets - your conscience

4.      Your Reason (motive) for sinning - you no longer have to

C.    What to do with the Blood of Christ?

1.      Claim it – accept it as for YOU (Romans 3:23-25).

2.      Plead it (Heb 10:19) – that means, Use it – against demonic attacks, against temptations, against reoccurring sins

a.       Plunging the thoughts into an ocean of Christ’s blood

b.      Drowning the feelings, the demons, the images, all under the blood!

3.      Trust it – that it works!

D.    What The Blood Cannot Wash Away – Part 2 ( Hebrews 9:22)

1.      Please, settle some things today

2.      Forget about Sins That Aren’t There - because already forgiven - settle your salvation today - did you, or did you not surrender to Christ for salvation? If you didn’t, then get saved. If you are saved, get busy for Christ!

3.      Stop collecting Scars - Decide to limit the scars you are going to leave on people’s lives, and make every memory count - with children, family, Jesus

4.      Stop worrying about the Sins of the Dead - there is no blood atonement for them once they enter eternity - no way to obtain forgiveness - no way to make right what you should have done before death - no way to pay off another person’s sins

5.      Make Sure You “Saved” - You know what is funny, people go through life, and know that they are breaking God’s laws, and going against God, and refusing to repent, and all the while they are expecting to still get into heaven (through some “back door”) - it won’t happen! You have to come through the Door, Jesus Christ, and that is by falling at His feet, and acknowledging to Him that YOU are the sinner for whom He died - and let Him save you right then and there! Have you done that? Are YOU truly saved?