FINDING THE HEART OF REDEMPTION: THE WHY

This week, we finish our sermon series Finding the Heart of Redemption with the sermon, The Why. The “why” of redemption is a complex and enduring story. God wants to redeem us, but what does this mean for our lives? If we understand redemption, does it help us overcome the divisions and problems that we are experiencing today? In order to move beyond a broken past, we have to find healing and restoration, in our society as well as in our lives. This involves genuine forgiveness and a deeper love than we usually witness in our world! In Hebrews 9:12-22, the writer is trying to help us understand the power at work in the redemption found in Jesus Christ. In many ways this is a complex passage that shares with us a different view of what happens upon the cross. Yet, these verses help us to realize the power of being cleansed from sin and being set free to serve God. A new force is now at work to bring us into God’s presence! As you read Hebrews 9:12-22, it is our prayer that you are brought into the very presence of Christ to sense the wholeness and hope of God’s redeeming power! Hebrews 9:12-22:12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! 15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance– now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. 16 In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, 17 because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. 18 This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. 19 When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. 20 He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” 21 In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. 22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. (NIV)