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[0:00] We have a problem that has to be dealt with today. We have a terrible problem that we have to find a solution for.! We have a terrible problem that we have to find a solution for. And that problem that we have to find a solution for.

[0:11] And that problem that we have is sin. We can't escape it. It was our forefather Adam and Eve that invited sin into our reality.

[0:28] In Genesis, you can read it in the beginning. When they were told not to eat of the fruit of the tree. And they decided to go ahead and eat that fruit anyway. And there's only one sin.

[0:43] And that is disobedience to God's word. That's the only sin there is. There's only one sin. And that is to be disobedient to God's word. It was not the fruit of the tree that Adam and Eve ate of that invited sin into our reality.

[1:00] And into our lives. It was the fact that they ate of the fruit after God said, don't eat the fruit. It was disobedience to God that brought sin into our reality.

[1:12] It's not adultery. It's not adultery in of itself that is sin. It's the fact that God said in his word, thou shall not commit adultery. And if you do that, it's sin.

[1:27] And it could be tied to anything that we look at as sin. Fornication, having sex outside of marriage. That type of relationship is to be between a man and a woman that's married.

[1:40] And any type of other type of fornication that happens, it's sin. Not in the act of doing it, but because the word of God says that you are not to do that.

[1:52] Rebellion of any kind. Rebellion against leaders. Leadership that God's placed in your life. Rebellion. Kids rebelling against their parents. The Bible says that rebellion is from the spirit of witchcraft.

[2:05] And it is a sin because the Bible says not to rebel against your leaders. Drinking. Smoking. Piercings. All these kind of things.

[2:16] God said that we are the temple of the Lord and that we're not to defile the temple. We need to look at ourselves as the dwelling place of God. We have the opportunity to have God's spirit living inside of us and guiding us and leading us into all truth.

[2:32] And so we become the temple, the vessel that carries the spirit of God within us. And the Bible says that if you defile the temple of God, that you will be destroyed. And so it's not the fact of those things, wearing an earring or something like that, that is what sin is.

[2:50] But it's the fact that we're defiling the temple of God. We're not respecting the temple of God. We're not understanding the principles there. And that's what becomes sin. And so whatever it is in the word of God, whatever is there, we are to obey the word of God.

[3:05] We're to obey what it says. And so obviously you need to know what it says in order to do that. But if God's word says don't do it, it is sin to do it. If God's word says to do it, it's sin to not do it.

[3:19] Okay. And so this is the problem that we have as humans. This is the problem that we have as mankind is that we have to deal with this thing of sin. It follows us everywhere we go. We carry flesh.

[3:30] We're spiritual beings. God formed us from the dust of the ground and blew life into us and we became a living soul. And that living soul, we're eternal spiritual beings housed in an earthly fleshly body.

[3:45] And so with that, we carry sin with us every day, day in and day out. Everywhere we go, it's there with us. And we're all sinners and in need of redemption. Amen.

[3:55] And the Bible says turn with me. Turn with me in 1 John 1, 8-10. We're going to read some scriptures together. I hope this is okay. 1 John 8. If you don't have your Bible, look on your Bible app.

[4:08] If you don't have that, then look at your neighbor's. 1 John 1, 8. It's okay. I'm going to take my time today. I want us to read the word of God together.

[4:19] I want you to see the words on the paper or on the screen. 1 John 1, 8. 1 John 1, 8.

[4:30] If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Verse 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

[4:46] And 1 John 1, 10 says, If we say that we have not sin, we make him, speaking of God, a liar and his word is not in us.

[4:59] If you say that you are not a sinner, if you think that you don't need the redemption of God, if you think that you don't need the grace and the mercy of God every day of your life, if you think that you don't need to repent over things that you've done, and you can try as hard as you want and you're always going to have a battle with sin.

[5:18] You can always do your best that you think you can do and it's always going to be a struggle. And there's a battle between the spirit and the flesh and sometimes the flesh wins, unfortunately.

[5:30] And we have to be able to recognize that and it has to pierce our conscience. If it doesn't pierce our conscience and then what happens is we sin again and we sin again and we become numb and dead to the fact that God is trying to let us know that that is wrong.

[5:45] And then we get to the point where we don't think there's such a thing as sin anymore. And what is sin? You know, I can do anything that pleases me. I can do whatever it is that I want to do.

[5:56] And God is just going to love me because, you know, the Bible says that God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son. So He loves us. You know, He loves me and that's right. He does love you. And He loved the rich young ruler, but He didn't chase the rich young ruler when the rich young ruler decided not to give Him what He asked for.

[6:14] He had met all the commandments. He had done it since He was a youth. When God said, there's one thing thou lackest, go sell all that you have and sell and give it to the poor and come and follow me.

[6:25] And He went away grieved because He wasn't willing to do that. And so God didn't go chasing, Jesus didn't go chasing Him down the road saying, come on, please repent. Please come to me. But He will let you continue in the path that you want to go.

[6:38] If it's away from God and you want to convince yourself that you don't have a problem with sin and you don't think you need to come to find a place and an altar to pray every once in a while, probably daily, then you are deceived.

[6:52] You are deceived. God forbid that we would call God a liar. God forbid that we would call God a liar. Let God be true and every man be a liar.

[7:04] Us being sinners is a real problem for us. It's a real problem for us that we need to deal with. Turn with me to Romans 6 and 23. Romans 6 and 23.

[7:16] When you get to Romans 6 and 23, shout out, amen. Romans 6 and 23. For the wages of sin is death.

[7:28] The wages of sin are death. If we think we're without sin, then we're liars. We just read it. We have all sin and come short of the glory. If we think we're without sin, we're liars.

[7:41] And here in Romans 6 and 23, it says, for the wages of sin is death. But thank God that the scripture goes on to give us the solution. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

[7:56] Our way to get to eternal life instead of death is through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And it is a gift from God. It is a gift from God. Our opportunity to be saved.

[8:09] Our opportunity to repent of our sins. Our opportunity to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins. Our opportunity to receive his spirit in us, the gift of the Holy Ghost.

[8:21] That opportunity to be saved, that price that would have to be paid. We didn't have to pay it. That's why it's called a gift. That's why he's saying it's a gift. It is a gift from God.

[8:32] And so what was the price? What was the price that had to be paid for sins? And what did God have to pay to be able to give us the gift of eternal life?

[8:42] And let's look. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 9, verse 22. If you're still in Romans, go to the right. Hebrews chapter 9, verse 22.

[8:55] Hebrews chapter 9, verse 22. That is how the gift of eternal life is given through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

[9:13] It's through the shed blood of Jesus Christ that we get to have remission of sins. That is why we're to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins. And so I want to preach about, and the title of my message is, The Precious Blood That Jesus Shed.

[9:30] The Precious Blood That Jesus Shed. If you would stand with me, our opening scripture I'll take from 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 18.

[9:44] 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 18. For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible thanks as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers.

[10:03] Let me break this down for a second. When it says your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, it's not talking about a conversation speaking to each other. The King James, if you look at the original Greek in there, and the various times that it uses, talks about our conversation, it's talking about our lifestyle.

[10:22] So in your mind, don't think like a conversation that's being had. Think our lifestyle, the way that, the way we are to live. Okay, so I'm going to read it with that in mind. For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your father.

[10:39] Verse 19. But with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.

[10:55] Amen. Thank you, Jesus. Let's pray. Lord, I thank you, Jesus, for being manifested in these last times for us. God, I thank you for your blood that you shed.

[11:05] God, God, that miraculous blood that you shed that would wipe away and cleanse me from my sins. God, I thank you for that, that precious blood of Christ. I thank you, Lord, for the miracle of the remission of sins, God.

[11:20] I thank you, Lord, for the miracle of your incarnation, that you would come off of your throne and put on flesh and die upon a cross for us, God, and to give us a chance of eternal life with you, Jesus.

[11:31] There's nothing that I want more than to live for you, God. And I pray, God, that you touch us today with your word. Help us understand what it is that you would have us understand. God, I pray, Lord, you anoint our minds to receive your word today.

[11:44] In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. And when we talk about the blood of Jesus, we can't just say blood. We can't just say blood.

[11:56] We have to somehow emphasize that the blood that Jesus shed was of great value. It was of great value.

[12:07] And so the Bible says it was precious. And for something to be precious, it has to be costly. It has to be unique.

[12:18] It has to be rare. It's not something that you can just find anywhere at a Dollar Tree. Okay? It's something that's hard to find.

[12:29] It's something unique, rare, expensive, costly. And think about gold. The reason that gold costs $3,200 an ounce today is because of how rare it is.

[12:41] You can't just go around in your backyard and dig around and find gold. You know, if you could just go in your backyard and dig around a little bit and probe here and there and turn up a bunch of gold, then it wouldn't be rare.

[12:57] It wouldn't be precious. It wouldn't be expensive. And pretty soon you could pave streets with it and you can make roads with it because it's just here and there and everywhere. But that's not the case with gold.

[13:09] It's hard to find. And so it becomes costly. It becomes expensive. It becomes desirable. It becomes something that people want to have. And the Bible says that the blood of Christ was far more precious than corruptible things like silver and gold.

[13:24] Silver and gold can be corrupted, but the precious blood of Jesus cannot. And so the Bible says that life of the flesh is in the blood. The Bible also says that without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins.

[13:38] And so it makes me wonder what it is because we understand it today, but I'm surprised.

[13:49] And I wonder how when you go all the way back to Genesis chapter 4 and you see the situation with Cain and Abel, Adam and Eve's first two sons.

[14:00] And where Cain and Abel are trying to make an offering unto God. And God rejects Cain's offering, an offering from the field, an offering of produce and things like that.

[14:13] But somehow Abel was able to understand or come to the conclusion that if I was to gain the attention of God, if I was going to be able to attract God's attention to my situation and to accept my offering and to accept my sacrifice, that I would have to spill blood.

[14:34] And that's what he did. He took from his flock and he offered that life from his flock as a sacrifice unto God. And he spilled blood. And that was the beginning of what would be a river of blood.

[14:47] From Genesis chapter 4 all the way to Malachi, there's nothing but blood, blood, blood, and more blood. It was a bloody deal. And sin is a bloody deal.

[14:57] It takes blood to remiss sins. It takes the shedding of blood. It takes a sacrifice of a living thing to take away our sins. And really, we're going to find out that it was only the precious blood of Jesus that would cause sins to be remissed.

[15:14] Because all that blood in the Old Testament, it never did wash anything away. It just pushed our sins forward and ahead. But that day when Abel reasoned in his mind that if I would take my animal from my flock and I would sacrifice it unto the Lord and take that life and spill blood upon an altar, that God would somehow look down upon us and get his attention.

[15:38] And that's exactly what he did. And just one and a half gallons of blood was spilled on that altar that day. But a fountainhead of blood was the beginning. And from Genesis chapter 4 all the way to Malachi to the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament, it was as though there was a river of blood being shed and spilled.

[15:59] And sin became so bad. At one point, we find in Genesis that God decided that he wanted to destroy all of mankind with a flood. And Noah somehow found favor in the sight of the Lord.

[16:13] And the Bible says that God seen him as a righteous man, a preacher of righteousness. And so Noah was able to find grace in the eyes of God.

[16:24] And God gave him the instructions to build an ark to keep him and his family from destruction of the flood that God was going to send to the world. And we find that he builds an ark.

[16:36] And in the ark is Noah and his wife and his three sons and their wives. And they're able to survive the flood, the disaster of the flood. And it was all because God, I'm telling you right now, God does not like sin.

[16:51] He hates sin. And he is a holy God. And we are to be holy to him. He expects us to have holiness. And if we're going to be sinful, you know, God loves us, but he's not going to love the sin.

[17:02] And we will be destroyed just like all those people were that weren't willing to be obedient to the word of God and build an ark and get into that ark. And God had made up his mind to destroy the world.

[17:13] And that's what he was going to do. And he let Noah and his family survive because he was a preacher of righteousness. But after the flood, waters receded and the ark came to a rest and the ground became dry.

[17:28] And no sooner than Noah got out of the ark, the first thing that you can read that he did was he went and he built an altar. And the first thing he did was he began to sacrifice life upon the altar.

[17:42] And the Bible says he took one of every clean fowl and every clean beast. And I'm telling you, that must have been a lot of things, animals, because there's a lot of different species of animals.

[17:54] And I can't, the Bible doesn't describe each and every single one, but every clean beast and every clean fowl, one, was sacrificed on the altar and the blood continued to flow.

[18:04] Amen. The river of blood continued to flow. And gallons and gallons of blood was spilled on that altar and the river of blood continued to flow. And Exodus, the people of God found themselves in bondage.

[18:19] They were in Egypt. And God sent Moses to tell Pharaoh to let my people go. And God was to deliver his people from the bondage of Egypt.

[18:30] And God sent plagues to Egypt. And Pharaoh would not let his people go. Plague, after plague would come. And Pharaoh's heart would be hardened and he would not let the people go.

[18:42] And then there was to be a final plague to come. In Exodus chapter 11, verse 1. And the Lord said unto Moses, yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt.

[18:55] Afterwards, he will let you go hence. When he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether. And we know that the final plague was going to be the death of all the firstborn of every household.

[19:09] But God gave his people a way to avoid death coming upon their households. And they were to take the blood of a spotless lamb. And they were to sacrifice it, that lamb, upon an altar and spill its blood upon the altar.

[19:25] And then to spread that blood upon the doorposts of their home. On the side post and on the overposts of their homes. They were to take that blood and spread it upon there.

[19:37] And if that blood of the lamb was upon the doorposts, God would pass over that house. And death would not visit that house. These are all types in scripture all pointing to what God's plan was to put on flesh and come and be a substitute for us on a cross.

[19:56] Amen. We have to understand this. And we're in the season of the Passover. Like I said, Passover started yesterday. And it goes until next Sunday. This is what we're talking about. And if the blood of the lamb was on the doorposts, God would pass over that house.

[20:10] And death would not visit. In order for the people of Israel to do that, we know in Exodus that they counted 600,000 men alone. Not counting the women and children.

[20:22] Estimates range in the millions of people there were. If you take and divide by five an average household, maybe we don't really know.

[20:33] But there's a good chance that 233,000 lambs had to be sacrificed that day. And one day, over a quarter million lambs had to be sacrificed.

[20:47] And their blood spilled upon the altar. And then that blood on the doorposts. Over 100,000 gallons of blood was spilled in one night. And some of that blood applied to their homes and to their tabernacle and to their dwelling place in order for the people of Israel to be able to avoid the death coming to their home as God would pass over their homes.

[21:13] And so after their deliverance and they were in the wilderness and they were thrust out of Egypt, God gave Moses the plan to build his tabernacle and instituted sacrificial offerings.

[21:25] And from there, for years and years, countless sacrifices are made on the behalf of the people of God. Thousands of gallons of blood spilled, millions of gallons of blood spilled over many decades of the rituals of the tabernacle of sin offerings being offered unto God.

[21:45] And they would kill lambs and they would kill goats and they would kill bulls and they would spill their blood and they would sprinkle blood upon the furniture pieces in the tabernacle.

[21:56] And it was all to push sin away. It never really washed sin away. It only pushed sin and it tossed our humanity's problems ahead another year.

[22:07] It just pushed it ahead another year. It never did wash any sins away. And all through the Old Testament, it was just blood, blood, blood and more blood.

[22:17] Blood continued to flow. And then in First Chronicles chapter 29, we see King David. He prepared his people for his departure. King David is getting ready to exit his king being king.

[22:32] And he's getting towards the end of his years. And God had directed him to make Solomon to take over as king. And they were to have a celebration.

[22:44] And during the festivities to honor God, they began to sacrifice animals and shed their blood. It was to be a sacrifice of gladness, the Bible says.

[22:55] But in order to do so, they took 1,000 bulls, 1,000 rams, and 1,000 sheep. And when they did, they took them and they spilled their blood.

[23:07] And in that time, over 7,000 gallons of blood was spilled and offered as a sacrifice unto God. And it was to be a sacrifice of gladness unto God for what was happening with Solomon taking over and God giving them the plans to the new temple that they would build.

[23:25] 7,000 gallons of blood was spilled. And the river of blood continued to flow. And what I'm trying to say is that all the blood in the Old Testament, there was nothing precious about the blood in the Old Testament.

[23:38] There was blood spilled by the thousands of gallons all through the Old Testament. And it never did anything. It just pushed sins ahead. It never really took any sins away.

[23:51] Amen. And then there came King Solomon building the new temple. And it is recorded in the book of 1 Kings.

[24:01] And it's also recorded in 2 Chronicles. And you want to talk about a display of blood. And Solomon had received the plans of the temple.

[24:12] And he was building the temple to God. And it came to the point that they were going to dedicate the temple unto God, the new temple that they had built, Solomon's temple. And to do so, they sacrificed 22,000 cattle.

[24:27] And they spilled their blood. History says that the ground in which they worked became so saturated with blood and that they had prepared ditches and ways for the blood to move from that place so that they continued to work and sacrifice.

[24:46] And 22,000 cattle. I don't know if you can even imagine how many cows or bulls that would be to have to just herd them up. And can you imagine all the slaughtering that was taking place and the blood being spilled.

[25:00] And with 22,000 cattle, over a quarter million gallons of blood was spilled to inaugurate this temple. And the prophet of the Lord stood up and said that this is not enough blood.

[25:15] This is not enough sacrifice. We must please the Lord. We must gain His attention. We have to get the attention of God upon this place. And so what did they do? They got 120,000 lambs.

[25:27] And they sacrificed 120,000 lambs to inaugurate the temple. And another quarter million gallons of blood was spilled. And in a period of 14 days, 120,000 lambs and goats and 22,000 bulls were sacrificed unto God to inaugurate a temple.

[25:47] And over a half a million gallons of blood was spilled. Over a half a million gallons of blood. You could take a vessel the size of a football field and fill it seven feet tall.

[26:00] That's how much blood was spilled to inaugurate that temple. Amen. And all the blood and all the sacrificing and all the slaughtering and all the animals and their hoof prints and poundings.

[26:12] And can you imagine the smells and the sounds? And it took over 1,000 priests working 24 hours in shifts, 24 hours a day, butchering and slaughtering 400 to 500 animals a day, 14 days straight, 24 hours a day, to complete this task of spilling this blood and making sacrifices unto God.

[26:35] Making sacrifices unto God. And the Word of God says in Hebrews 10, chapter 10, verse 4, For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

[26:50] It's not possible that all that blood, all that sacrificing, it didn't take away any sins. And there was finally a prophet that would stand up and say, Don't you know that God's not going to be satisfied with the spilling of the blood of bulls and the spilling of blood of goats and rams and sheep?

[27:15] That you have to have something more precious than that. God wants something more precious than the blood of a bull. And so what is to be the answer? What is to be the solution?

[27:27] And I'll tell you what it is. It happens and begins in the New Testament. And finally the plan of God is coming to fruition. And the Holy Ghost overshadowed a virgin vessel.

[27:39] And when he did, it placed in her a body. And in that body, there was a blood placed in that body like no other blood placed in a human before. And it was a rare blood.

[27:51] It was a precious blood. It was the blood of Jesus. And now God had flesh. And God had blood. And the plan that was from the beginning, God said it was from the beginning, before the foundations of the world.

[28:04] This was the plan. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. And the Word was God. And when you break that down, the word logos, it means, it can mean plan. The idea and the plan that God had was before the foundations of the world.

[28:18] Before we were even created. Before we even need redemption. It was God's plan to be a redeemer. It was God's plan to be our Savior. Amen. And I thank God for that today.

[28:31] Oh, I wish somebody would thank God for a plan of salvation. We needed a blood that was more precious than a bull's blood or a sheep's blood or a lamb's blood or a goat's blood.

[28:44] And God was willing to put on flesh and blood and be that blood that was needed. Amen. Turn with me to Leviticus chapter 17 verse 11. Leviticus chapter 17 verse 11.

[29:01] 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 atonement for the soul.

[29:12] God speaking. God speaking to Moses. Saying, for the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I, God speaking, I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls.

[29:28] That sounds like it had already happened. But that was still to come. It's because the plan of God was in place before the foundations of the world.

[29:38] Jesus was the lamb slain before the foundations of the world. That doesn't mean he was literally slain before the foundations of the world somewhere in glory. It means that the plan was in place.

[29:50] The plan was in place. Amen. This verse is telling us that the plan was always Jesus. It was always God himself putting on flesh and blood to come and be a sacrifice to cover our sins.

[30:06] And all the repetitive sacrifices all through the Old Testament, and all the millions of gallons of blood spilled could not get the job done. But God said to Moses, the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I, and I have given it to you upon an altar to make atonement for your souls.

[30:24] This is obviously pointing to the day that God would come in the form of a man and give his flesh and blood for the atonement of our sins. Turn with me to Acts chapter 20, verse 28.

[30:37] Acts chapter 20, verse 28. Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves and to all the flock. Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers.

[30:53] To feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. This is a scripture speaking to pastors. That we are to make sure that we, as pastors, are living by the word of God.

[31:08] And to make sure that you, as the flock, that the, have the Holy Ghost, has made me an overseer. Has made pastors overseer of flocks.

[31:20] And that we're living by the word of God. It's the, it's, it's, uh, take heed, therefore, unto yourselves. It means pastors, you need to make sure you, yourselves, are obeying this word of God.

[31:31] And to all the flock. And so you got to make sure the flock is, uh, learning and, uh, obeying the word of God. Over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God.

[31:42] That's our job as pastors is to feed you the word of God. To feed the church of God. And, and then it says, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

[31:52] God purchased it with his own blood. Jesus was God. Amen. He purchased it with his own blood. And so now we have been redeemed. Not by, uh, the blood of bulls.

[32:05] Not by the blood of goats. Uh, we the church have been redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus. The blood of God. It's the precious blood of Jesus. And when that day came to plan, that plan to kill Jesus was coming to its, uh, fruition.

[32:22] Uh, there Jesus hanging on a cross. Uh, suspended between two worlds. Jesus being God and man at the same time.

[32:34] Nailed to a cross. Hanging between earth and heaven. Burying our sins. He cried out. It is finished.

[32:46] And what I think was happening. Was that pump that sits in your chest. Was reaching all through his body. And finding those last few drops of blood.

[32:58] And then pushing it to the nearest openings. In his body. And when those last few drops of blood. Left his body. I believe he said it was finished.

[33:09] I've given you every drop of blood. That I have to give. I have completed. The mission. That I was. That I have come to do.

[33:20] To take away the sins. Of my people. And I thank God. For that. Because. Every drop of blood that was shed. By Jesus.

[33:31] Bought me millions of years. In eternity. It wasn't. The. The blood of a goat. It wasn't the blood of a bull. It wasn't the blood of a lamb. It was the blood.

[33:42] Of God. It was God's blood. It was the blood of Jesus. That was shed for. Me. That gave me the opportunity. To have. Eternal life. Amen. Amen.

[33:54] And I thank God for that. The very first miracle. That Jesus publicly performed. Was turning. Water. Into wine. At a marriage.

[34:05] In Cana. And what's interesting to know. Is there. Were a lot of typologies. And all that. And we're not going to go through all of it. But John. Chapter 2.

[34:16] Verse 1. Says. And on the third day. There was a marriage in Cana. And the obvious. One is. On the third day. Jesus. Rose again.

[34:27] And of course. He is. The bridegroom of the church. And. There will be a marriage supper. Of the lamb. Then the water. That Jesus turned into wine.

[34:38] Was stored in six pots. That were. Reserved for purification. Rituals. Used by the Jews. And there's types. And shadows. And figures. All pointing to the shift.

[34:49] From the Old Testament. Blood. Seen as. Wheat. Seen as water. And comparing it to the New Testament. Precious blood of Jesus.

[35:00] God himself. That would. He would shed. Represented by the wine. And so. Symbolically. We're going from water. To wine. And the Old Testament. Blood.

[35:11] To New Testament. Blood. Of purification. That's what we're. We're going to. And then fast forward. To the point. That Jesus. Is at the last supper. With his. Twelve apostles.

[35:21] And the last supper. Occurring. The Thursday evening. During the Passover meal. Just about. Twelve or fifteen hours. Before he would be. Crucified on a cross. Jesus makes the wine.

[35:33] Symbolic. Of his blood. God. And for clarification. Today. Disciples of Jesus Christ. Do not. Defile our bodies.

[35:44] The temple of God. The temple of the Holy Ghost. By drinking alcohol. We don't drink alcohol. The wine. In the world today. Was not the same wine.

[35:55] Talked about in the Bible. And I'll explain that. There was. Their wine was. A lot more practical. And humble. Not. It wasn't like a modern Merlot. Or something. Okay. In the.

[36:06] In the. In the first century. Wines. Alcohol content was. A lot lower. It was. It was fruit of the vine. It was grapes. That. Have fermented. Okay.

[36:16] And there were traces of alcohol. There. It was a natural fermentation process. Far less efficient. In the Bible days. Than the grapes that.

[36:28] Are in the. The fermentation process. That's used today. The distilling. And all that. And. And. The. The grapes. Back then. Weren't bred for high sugar content. Like they are today. Which we know.

[36:39] The sugar. Is what turns to alcohol. But. It ranged. Around 5%. Alcohol. In. In. In the. The finished product. Okay.

[36:50] Compared to. Today. It's around 15%. So. It's. It's. Three times. More alcohol. Okay. And on top of that. Okay. They also diluted it.

[37:02] Dilution was a standard practice. They diluted the wine. Quite a bit. Actually. Okay. So. For. Multiple reasons. Mainly. It was. To stretch the product.

[37:13] Make it. Last longer. But the primary purpose. Of. Of. Of that was. It was actually. To purify the water. Because the water. Could be contaminated. And so.

[37:24] But for every. Two or three gallons. Of water. There would be. A gallon of wine. So it was. The. The. The dilution ratio. Was. Two to one. Or three to one. Three gallons of water. And one gallon of wine.

[37:35] So not only was it. A third. Less. Had. Only one third. Of the alcohol content. It was then diluted. With water. Three. Up to three times. And so really.

[37:45] There's. There's nothing there to. There's no real. Amount. Traceable of alcohol. In there. That would be. Of any considerable. Amount. Compared to like. If you just got. A bottle of wine.

[37:56] From the store today. And popped it open. And started drinking. It's not. That's not what the wine was. Okay. And. And so. Anytime. There was.

[38:06] Undiluted wine. In the bible. It's called. Strong drink. And it was less common. And it was found upon. And it was taught. Against in scriptures. There's proverbs. Twenty and one.

[38:17] Leviticus. Ten and nine. Where it's talking about. Not. Not using the strong drink. Not becoming drunk. Those things. But the fruit of the vine. That Jesus. And the apostles. Drank at the last supper.

[38:28] Had no real. Traceable amounts. Of alcohol. And so. And we don't drink alcohol. Holiness is very important. To God. Our holiness. Is very important.

[38:39] To God. Okay. And so. Let's look at. Jesus is teaching. His disciples. About the. Symbolism. Between the bread. And his body. And the fruit of the vine.

[38:49] And his blood. Turn with me. To John. Chapter six. Verse 48. John chapter six.

[39:09] Verse 48. I am the bread of life. Is Jesus speaking. Verse 48. I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness.

[39:21] And are dead. So he's referring to the time. That they were wandering in the wilderness. And they were hungry. And they had no food. And God literally sent manna from heaven. And it would just appear. And they would go out in the morning.

[39:32] And collect it. And it was enough to get them through the day. And guess what? Jesus said. Yeah. That was me. I sent all that bread. From heaven. But guess what? The manna didn't.

[39:43] Wasn't what you. What was needed. They're dead. They're all dead. Okay. But verse 50. He's saying. This is the bread. Which cometh down from heaven. That a man may eat thereof. And not die.

[39:55] He's speaking that. He's the bread of life. Verse 51. I am the living bread. Which came down from heaven. And if any man eat this bread. He shall live forever. And the bread that I will give.

[40:06] Is my flesh. Which I will give. For the life of the world. 52. Verse 52. And the Jews therefore. Strove among themselves. Saying. And how can this man.

[40:18] Give us his flesh to eat. Obviously symbolic. And they're thinking literal. Verse 53. Then Jesus said unto them. Verily. Verily. I say unto you.

[40:28] Except ye eat the flesh. Of the son of man. And drink his blood. Ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh. And drinketh my blood. Hath eternal life.

[40:39] And I will raise him up. At the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed. And my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh. And drinketh my blood. Dwelleth in me. And I in him.

[40:50] So this is. This was early in Jesus' teachings. It's in John chapter 6. It was early in his teachings. And it was still a ways. Before the last supper.

[41:00] But he's already explaining. The symbolisms of his flesh. And his blood. But the thing that we need to understand. Is that this act of eating. The bread. Or the flesh of Jesus.

[41:11] And drinking the fruit of the vine. The blood of Jesus. It's ceremonial. It's symbolic of the fact. That we have been chosen. To be disciples of Jesus Christ. That we.

[41:23] We have been chosen. And we. We. By God. And we choose him. And we. We choose to be disciples of Jesus Christ. And that we live a life. That's pleasing to God.

[41:34] Which is the only way. That it's possible. Is if we. Desperately strive. To live in obedience. To his word. That's the only way. It's possible. Turn with me.

[41:45] To 1 Corinthians 11. 27 through 29. 1 Corinthians 11.

[41:56] 27. Through 29. This is important. Please turn with me. I want you to read this. Please. 1 Corinthians 11.

[42:12] 27. Wherefore. Whosoever shall eat this bread. And drink this cup of the Lord. Unworthily. Shall be guilty of the body.

[42:25] And blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself. And so let him eat. Of that bread. And drink of that cup.

[42:36] Verse 29. For he that eateth. And drinketh unworthily. Eateth and drinketh. Damnation to himself. Not discerning the Lord's body. So this is Paul warning.

[42:49] Warning us. That communion. Is a spiritual checkpoint. It's a spiritual checkpoint. And at the last supper. God's. Robe in flesh.

[43:00] Jesus said. Do this in remembrance of me. As often as you come together. And there's a lot of different. Rituals out there. There's a lot of different. Beliefs.

[43:12] Or practices. Of how often. When. A communion. Takes place. But. But Jesus said. Do it. As often as you. You come together. And in remembrance of me.

[43:22] Every time you break bread together. Every time. You drink the fruit of the vine. Then think of me. And. And do this thing. And it's. So it's not something that. Can be overdone. Unless.

[43:33] You do it. From a place that's not. Genuine. In your heart. And he was warning us. That communion is a spiritual checkpoint. We need to be sure that we're living. Holy and pleasing unto God.

[43:45] If we're going to. Partake in the symbolic nature. Of the last supper. Of consuming his. His flesh. And his blood. Like he had. Commanded us to do. What it symbolized.

[43:56] What it. What it means. Amen. So let's all stand. I'm going to go to Luke 22. Luke chapter 22.

[44:09] Verse 14. And when the. This is the last supper. This is. Just. We're not even. We're less than a day away. From the crucifixion. We're 12, 15 hours away.

[44:21] From crucifixion. The last supper. Luke chapter 22. Verse 14. And when the hour was come. He sat down. And what. And the 12 apostles. With him.

[44:32] And he said. Other than with desire. I have desire. To eat this Passover. With you. Before I suffer. For I say unto you. I will not. Any more. Eat thereof. Until I be fulfilled.

[44:44] In the kingdom of God. And he took the cup. And gave thanks. And said. Take this. And divide it. Among yourselves. For I say unto you. I will not drink.

[44:54] Of the fruit of the vine. Until the kingdom of God. Shall come. Amen. If you. Are. Planning on partaking of.

[45:05] If you want to partake. Of communion. With us today. I'm asking you to come. Stand up here. In this area. Of the altar. Here. So.

[45:16] What I want us to do. Before we. Before we continue. Is just pray. Let's ask God. To. Make sure that. Our spirits are right. Make sure that we.

[45:27]  Understand. Does anybody have any questions. About. What we're about to do.