“By His Own Blood” [Matt's Messages] ~ Matt Mitchell

“By His Own Blood”

Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus

The Letter to the Hebrews

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

July 12, 2026 :: Hebrews 9:1-14

What is the worst thing that you have ever done?

(Don’t yell it out!)

But what is the worst thing that you have ever done as a human being? What is the worst thing you have ever wanted to do? Thought about doing? Dreamed about doing? Sin is thinking, wanting, or doing what displeases God. What is the worst sin that you have committed?

I don’t really want to know. I know my own sin, and I think that if all of the history of sin in this one room was revealed, it would be unbearable to think about. Not that we all have been as sinful as we possibly we could. I’m sure that we could have been much worse. God’s restraining grace is a wonderful thing! But I know my own history with sin, and I know some of your sins because you’ve talked to me about them. And I know what the Bible says about how each one of us has sinned and fallen so far short of the glory of God.

What is the worst sin that you have committed? How do you feel about it today?

I hope that you are not feeling proud of it.

I assume you probably feel regret over it.

I wonder if you feel forgiven of it?

I’d guess that some of us here feel ashamed of it. We feel dirty. We feel impure, unholy, maybe unworthy of coming near to God.

“Dirty, dirty, dirty.”

“Who do I think I am to come near to God? God is holy, holy, holy! Who do I think I am to approach Him? Much less serve Him.”

Do you sometimes feel unworthy to serve God because of your sin?

“I can’t go out and talk about God. I know what I’ve done. I can’t teach kids the Bible. I’m too dirty on the inside. A holy God can’t use me.”

If those thoughts run through your mind, this passage of holy Scripture has something good to say to you today. I know it does for me.

We’ve reached the heart of the Letter to the Hebrews, and I’ve said you can summarize with it three short words. What are they?

Great. High. Priest.

Jesus is our great high priest. He’s our greater high priest. The writer is trying convince these Jewish Christians that Jesus is greater than everything they know and love from their Old Testament–including the Levitical Aaronic priesthood. Ever since chapter 4, he’s been trying to show them how Jesus is our greater high priest. And the list is long. We’ve been making charts!

Team Melchizedek for the win! Team Jesus for the win!

Jesus is a much better priest. And He is the mediator of a much better covenant. Last week, we saw in chapter 8 how much better are the promises of the new covenant promised in Jeremiah 31 than the promises of the older covenant given through Moses.

And those promises are so good that they can get us out of bed even when we don’t feel like it. Did those better promises help you get out of bed this week? Help you keep going? Keep going! Fix your eyes on Jesus.

Well, this pastor has much more to say about why Jesus is a greater high priest with a superior ministry. Two more chapters worth! And we need to understand these things to know our better high priest better and the salvation that He brings.

And in this next section, he’s going to turn his focus on how our great high priest serves in a greater sanctuary with a greater sacrifice. A better sanctuary and a better sacrifice. He’s talked about it already, but he’s going to go deeper.

Hebrews says that our great high priest serves in a greater sanctuary with a greater sacrifice.

And to show that, he’s going to have to talk a lot about...blood.

We’ve reached the part of this letter where the writer is going to talk a lot about blood.

You might surprised to learn the word “blood” has only appeared once in this letter when the author pointed out that Jesus had flesh and blood. But starting in verse 7, he’s going to use the word “blood” at least 22 more times!

Blood, blood, blood, blood everywhere.

This book takes a turn for the violent. And, I’m sorry if you are squeamish about blood. I can be, too. I have the handwriting to be a doctor, but I could never become one because I don’t like the sight of blood.

In this context, “blood” stands for the sacrificial death of something or someone that had been alive. It’s not so much the red stuff itself but how that red stuff was shed. A sacrificial death. A violent death, not a peaceful one where the one who died just fell asleep and their body shut down. But a death where blood was spilled. Where the one who died was killed. And the one dying was sacrificed for another. That’s what “blood” means in Hebrews.

It’s not pretty, but it is precious.

Especially the blood that our great high priest offered as His greater sacrifice in the greater sanctuary. And we all know what that is. It’s His own blood. We’ve been singing about it all morning!

But I’m getting ahead of the story. First, he’s going to set it up by teaching about the first sanctuary and the blood sacrifices that went with it.

Let’s start in verse 1 of chapter 9.

Now, remember, this is all very foreign to us, but it was very familiar to them. This is what they were tempted to fall back on. But he just told them in the last verse of chapter 8 that it was all going away. Chapter 9, verse 1.

“Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now” (vv.1-5).

He says that he can’t go into detail, but there is still a lot of detail there!

Again, these things were familiar to them as much as they foreign to us. They all knew the Book of Exodus and the Book of Leviticus so they were familiar with the tabernacle in the wilderness.

It was a tent. God told Moses to build this worship tent and plop it in the middle of the camp of the Israelites. He gave Moses a blueprint with instructions for all of the details.

Go back and read Exodus 25 to see some of those details. It’s really fascinating. Hebrews doesn’t focus on the court outside of the tabernacle. There was a big fence around it (150' by 75'). Hebrews focuses on the two room tent inside of the fence which was 45' by 15'.

Hebrews gives us like the floor-plan if you were trying to search the tabernacle on Zillow or Redfin or Realty.com.

I can tell you right now that you couldn’t afford it. It was only a tent and only 2 rooms, but both rooms were filled with gold. Gleaming gold.

The first room (according to verse 2) had a golden lampstand in it. Like a menorah. It had 7 wicks always lit at night to show that Somebody was home. And it also had the golden table of the consecrated bread. Twelve loves there all of the time. That room was 30' by 15'. They called that room “The Holy Place.”

And then there was a heavy curtain between that first room in the tent and the second room (which was 15' by 15').

And that second room they called “The Most Holy Place.” Literally, “The Holy of Holies.”

All of this is about holiness. Being set apart. God is holy, holy, holy. And this one is His room.

And it’s full of gold. The first thing verse 4 mentions was probably actually in the Holy Place, but it was for the Most Holy Place.

It was the golden altar of incense. Incense is this organic stuff that if if you burn it, it releases a fragrant smoke. And when the High Priest went into the Most Holy Place on the Day of Atonement, he scooped up two handfuls of incense from this table and took it in with him to the “gold-covered ark of the covenant” (Leviticus 16:12).

That’s the box, the chest covered in gold inside and outside that contained at times the jar of manna that never decomposed and Aaron’s staff that miraculously budded, and the second set of stone plates that had the 10 commandments inscribed as it were by the very finger of God!

These things reminded the Israelites of God’s gracious provision for them all of those years.

And the ark itself was like God’s throne. Like you could imagine Him sitting there. Verse 5 says that above it were these golden statutes of the cherubim–these awesome angelic creatures with huge wings– overshadowing the “atonement cover.” Traditionally rendered, “The Mercy Seat.” Which was a slab of pure gold where the blood was sprinkled.

Every year on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), the high priest (a son of Levi, a son of Aaron) would take blood into that room and sprinkle it on the Atonement Cover. You can read about it in Leviticus chapter 16. I recommend that everybody read Leviticus 16 this afternoon. I almost decided to read it as part of this message, but it seemed a little too long for today.

Here’s where the blood goes. On top of this ark.

Now, verse 5 says that we cannot discuss these things in detail now. They didn’t have to. They knew all about them.

They knew what a good gift all of this was. Because of these two rooms, God could dwell safely among them at the center of their community. Because of this tabernacle, the priests could safely represent these sinful people to a holy, holy, holy God.

And these two rooms were also teaching them about the holiness of God. Everything in them was deeply symbolic. We could spend a lot of time on how Jesus is the light of the world (like the lamp stand) and the bread of life (like the bread on the table) or how our prayers are like incense.

But what Hebrews emphasizes is the holiness. It’s all about access. Do you see that? Look at verse 6.

“When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry.” Stop there for a second.

Question: Who could go into the outer room? The Holy Place. Could you and I go into that room? Sinners that we are? No. We couldn’t go into outer court! Because I think we are all Gentiles here.

But could someone from the Tribe of Judah go into the Holy Place? No. King David would not have been welcome in the Holy Place.

Only the priests. They went in regularly. They had to fill the oil in the lampstand. They had to swap out the old bread and put in the new. They actually got to eat the old bread every week! And they had to fill the incense altar with incense.

But what about the next room over? Could all the priests go in there? No. Only one of them could! Look at verse 7.

“But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.”

Notice the stipulations:

Only the high priest.

Only once a year.

And only with blood.

Why?

Because God is holy, holy, holy.

It’s all about access.

Everybody in our Challenge Group is going to get one of these name tags in Kansas City. These are mine from the 3 years I got to go. 2014, 2016, and 2018 back when my kids were in high school.

And you aren’t allowed into the building for worship at Challenge without your name tag. Without your access card. If you don’t have it, you have to stand outside. You are separated from all the goodness inside. You need your access card to enter in.

Blood was the access card for the high priest.

“Never without blood.” You see that?

“Never without blood.” That’s important. That’s not a small thing. That’s a rule of the universe, you and I cannot approach the holy, holy, holy God without blood. Read Leviticus 16.

And Aaron and his sons offered the blood for themselves and for the sins the people had committed ignorance. That doesn’t mean they didn’t know they were sinning. It means all of the sins that weren’t the defiant sins of total apostasy. “Sins of the high hand.”

With those two handfuls incense, the high priest also took in blood behind the curtain and sprinkled it on the atonement cover and then left. And Israel was covered for another year.

Is that good or bad? It was so good! What a gift of grace that God provided them this sacrificial system to show how holy He is, how terrible sin is, and how His holiness can be satisfied by a sacrifice of blood.

It was so good. But it was not good enough. It was insufficient. It was ineffective. It was weak. It wasn’t enough to get you and me all the way in to God. Look at verse 8.

“The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing.”

God the Spirit was showing through the tabernacle’s inspired floor-plan that you and I still had no way to go all the way to God. While the old covenant was in effect.

He’s trying to get them to see how the old covenant was not enough. We need the new! We need a new way in. And not only that, but these sacrifices, as good as they were, could only clean the outside of the people. Look at verse 9.

“This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings–external regulations applying until the time of the new order” (vv.9-10).

Do you see what he’s saying? The blood that gave them access was only effective “skin deep.” It didn’t get all the way down to their guilt. It covered them. Symbolically. And effectively for the time being. And as a symbol of the sacrifice to come. But that blood did not (v.9) “clear the conscience.”

Especially because it covered only one year. They had to go through the whole thing again next year and the year after that. And it didn’t get down to the heart. It didn’t really address that feeling of “dirty, dirty, dirty.” It wasn’t enough. The old covenant. The old sanctuary. The old priesthood. The old sacrifice was not enough.

But there was new one coming! Look at the end of verse 10 again. These are external regulations...

“...applying until the time of the new order.”

When is that? When Jesus came. Look at verse 11.

“When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation.”

Jesus has come! And He’s a greater high priest. He’s bringing greater things. Things that Hebrews says are already here. He’s bringing a new order. He’s bringing a new covenant. And He came through a greater (and more perfect) tabernacle.

Which one is that? The heavenly one! Remember we said last week that we don’t know if that’s literal or not? If there is an actual tabernacle somehow in heaven or if it’s more metaphorical? Either way it’s more real than the earthly one. Because that one is based on this one.

Our great high priest has gone through the heavens to serve in the greater sanctuary.

He went up, up, up to heaven. Up to the Holy Place and to the Holy of Holies! The Most Holy Place in the Universe! The very presence of God.

And how did He get in? What was His access?

He belonged there, of course. He is the Son of God and God the Son. That’s home to Him. He is holy, holy, holy. He didn’t have to have blood for Himself to get in there.

But He was representing us. And we’re sinners. How did He get in? And can we get in? It wasn’t the old way. I can tell you that. Look at verse 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, having obtained eternal redemption.”

“By his own blood.”

The most precious thing in the world. He’s talking about the Cross. He’s talking about how Jesus was sacrificed. How Jesus died a sacrificial death. Blood. Jesus did not die peacefully in His sleep. Jesus was killed. He was crucified. He was sacrificed. Jesus was a human sacrifice. And that’s how He entered in. You see that in verse 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...”

#1. HE ENTERED THE MOST HOLY PLACE.

I have three brief points this morning which all dwell on what Jesus did by His own blood, and the first is this: He entered the Most Holy Place by His own blood. It was His worthy sacrifice that gained Jesus entrance into the Holy of Holies in heaven.

I don’t know what that was like. I can’t begin to imagine. I think we get kind of glimpse of it in Revelation chapter 4 and 5. But really that’s a different set of symbols exploding over there.

Our great high priest Jesus goes up and up and up through the heavens and into the Holy Place and then marches right into the Holy of Holies by the matchless merits of His sacrificial death. “I’m here by my own blood.” And that means that you and I can be there, too.

I think that’s why when Jesus died, the curtain in the temple on earth was torn in two. From top to bottom. To symbolize the access that we now have because of the blood of Jesus Christ.

We can go in to where He is holy, holy, holy. That’s because we have been bought with that blood. That’s what redemption means in verse 12. “He entered the Most Holy Place, once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.”

#2. HE OBTAINED ETERNAL REDEMPTION.

That’s also talking about what Jesus did on the cross. He redeemed His people. That means He bought them back. We were enslaved to sin and liable to judgment. But Jesus died to pay for our sins and buy us back to Him. We are redeemed!

Church, how long is our redemption good for? When does it wear off? When does our redemption expire? Is it good for a year? Until the next Yom Kippur? Until next Christmas? Next New Year’s? Next Easter? No, what kind of redemption is it?

Eternal redemption. We have been bought back by the blood of Christ, and we cannot be lost again. Our salvation is forever. Why? Because Jesus lives forever, right? We saw in that in chapter 7. Our great high priest is a priest forever because He always lives to intercede for us (7:25). He is indestructible.

Jesus came back to life. And then He ascended to the Most Holy Place and entered by His blood.

And nobody can force Him out! And therefore nobody can force us out. He has obtained for us an eternal redemption! Isn’t that good news? How does that make you feel? That’ll get you out of bed won’t it?! That will help you keep going!

He obtained for us an eternal redemption because His sacrifice was not just by His own blood but “once for all.”

Remember we saw those words in chapter 7, verse 27 and said that Hebrews is going to repeat that phrase over and over again until it’s embedded in our brains?

“Once for all.” (7:27)

“Once for all.” (9:12)

“Once for all.” (10:2)

“Once for all.” (10:10)

We need those words. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ does not need to be repeated. It cannot be repeated. It won’t be repeated. Our redemption doesn’t need to be repeated. It is once for all by His own blood.

So we are forever free. And forever cleansed.

#3. HE CLEANSES OUR CONSCIENCES.

Look at verse 13. He’s going back again to the first covenant and showing how insufficient it was. V.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. 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!” (vv.13-14).

Wow! Do you see his logic there? The old sacrifices were good because they provided an external cleansing. Deeply symbolic and effective to a great extent. But only skin deep. They couldn’t clear the conscience.

How much more...that’s an argument from the lesser to the greater. How much more effective is the blood of Christ? The sacrificial death of Christ. When Jesus gave Himself to obtain eternal redemption through the power of the eternal Spirit, His blood went deeper. It went down into the conscience. It went down into the heart. It goes down inside of us and cleanses our consciences. So that we can be totally forgiven and even feel forgiven! We can know that we’re forgiven! We can draw near to God.

He says that the blood cleanses our consciences from acts that lead to death. That could mean “dead works,” as in old covenant ways of trying to get to God that really don’t work. But I think he just means sin.

He means that worst thing you and I have ever done.

Acts that lead to death.

Acts that deserve death.

Our sin deserves death.

Not just the worst things we’ve ever done, but every sin that we have committed deserves death.

But the Blood of Christ, the unblemished Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice, holy, blameless, pure, undefiled blood...cleanses our conscience!

If Jesus is your high priest, you are forgiven. Your sins, the worst thing you ever did, the worst thing you ever wanted to do, the worst thing you ever thought about doing, the worst thing you dreamed about doing is forgiven!

It’s cleansed. It’s not on your record. It’s not on your heart! It doesn’t have to be on your conscience.

You’re not dirty, dirty, dirty. You’re clean, clean, clean because of the blood of Christ. At the very core of your being.

Take that into yourself. That’s the truest thing about you. That’s how precious and powerful is the blood of Jesus Christ!

And think about this. Jesus chose this for you and me. The bulls and goats and calves and heifers and lambs did not offer themselves for the Israelites. They didn’t chose to go to slaughter.

But our high priest did. It took the power of the eternal Spirit, but He offered Himself to God. For us. And that changes us on the inside forever.

That’s true for everyone who believes in Jesus as their Lord, Savior, and High Priest. I hope that’s true of everyone in this room. If it is not true of you yet, what are you waiting for? Jesus Christ has come as the high priest of the good things that are already here. Get them for yourselves while you can. Turn from your sin and put your trust in the great high priest who has entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption for all who put their faith in Him.

Here’s the one last point of application I want to make before we sing. And that’s the last phrase of verse 14. What good is it that Jesus’ blood cleanses our conscience? Here’s the effect. Verse 14.

“...so that we may serve the living God.”

We can come to God. We can draw near. We have access! And we can serve Him. We can live for Jesus!

We can talk about Him out there in the world. We can teach our children about Him in our homes and down that hallway. Our Challenge Group can serve Kansas City. Our Crisis Response team can serve Ft Myers.

We can get up out of bed tomorrow and identify as God’s own servants.

Forgiven. Cleansed by Jesus’ own blood.

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