Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm Podcast.
We are a Bible -believing church located in beautiful
British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part
of the Christian Fellowship Ministries with 3
,000 churches around the world. We are a church
focused on world evangelism, discipleship, and
church planting. Here we will share recent sermons
from PHSA Church and other sermons from throughout
our fellowship. I'm Pastor David Bickford and
I will be your host for this podcast. I thank
you for listening today and we hope these messages
are a blessing to you and bring you closer to
God. Hello and welcome back to the podcast. My
name is Pastor David Bickford. I'm the pastor
here in Salmon Arm for the Potter's House. And
today's message is Mercy, Bloody Mercy, God's
Grace and Mercy. So before we jump right into
that, I'm making my way through the conference
videos. I apologize. It takes me a little bit
longer. As a working pastor, we have a day job
and other things that are kind of getting in
the way, but I'm still making sure that I put
those in. There's a total of 17 messages from
the conference, and those will be uploaded in
the next week or so, I imagine. That being said,
we're going to go ahead and jump in. So if you're
following along your text, Romans 3, 21 through
31 is our main launching off point for this message.
In the illustration I have to kind of jump us
in is called the shepherd's blood. In 1972, a
shepherd had brought his sheep into a walled
off enclosure. area for the night and he had
just gone to sleep when he heard a commotion.
He quickly rushed over to where the sound was
coming from and to his horror he discovered that
a wolf was in the process of dragging off one
of his sheep through a hole in the wall. He was
mauling the sheep and the blood was flying. The
shepherd quickly began hitting the wolf and the
wolf turned on him and began attacking him. it
bit him all over and while the shepherd was striking
him with the staff and finally with one final
blow of his staff he killed the wolf as he himself
collapsed into a bloody heap He managed to crawl
over to the half -dead sheep and began to bandage
its wounds. He gave it some water and then took
it into his own bloody arms, and the shepherd
and the sheep went to sleep together. The next
morning, the shepherd was found dead, his body
literally draped over the sheep to comfort it
and to keep it warm. The following day, the headline
in the Jerusalem paper said, sheep alive, covered
in the shepherd's blood. So here's a quote or
two that I found from Luther. It's from one of
his sermons from 1532. The sermon is the sum
of life. The scriptures teach me that God establishes
two seats for men, a judgment seat for those
who are still secure and proud and will neither
acknowledge nor confess their sin and a mercy
seat for those whose conscience is poor and needy,
who feel and confess their sin, dread his judgment
and yearn for his grace. In this mercy seat is
Christ himself, as St. Paul says in Romans 3,
whom God has established for us that we might
have refuge there, since by ourselves we cannot
stand before God. There shall I take my refuge
when I have done or still do less than is to
meet and done much more of sin according to the
law, both before and after my sanctification
and justification. and good they are or can be
in sight of men shall be as nothing and they
shall be covered over as it were with a vault
yea with a fair haven which will mightily protect
and defend them the name of which is grace and
the forgiveness of sins thereunder shall my heart
and conscience creep and be safe so the main
idea of this message today is mercy bloody mercy
Mercy is defined as a compassionate or kindly
forbearance shown toward an offender or an enemy
or other person in one's power. Compassion, pity,
or benevolence are similar words. They can also
be looked at as the discretionary power of judgment
to pardon someone or to mitigate punishment,
especially to send to prison rather than to evoke
the death penalty. So in the beginning, before
the fall, humanity was in perfect relationship
with God. At this point, God dealt directly with
Adam. After the fall, all that changed. And now
in the first act of mercy, God killed animals
to provide a covering for Adam and Eve. Blood
was necessary to cover Adam and Eve. Blood was
necessary. for Abraham and Isaac and Jacob to
be covered. Blood was required by the law, but
only the perfect sacrifice and the perfect blood
will last for eternity. And that is why Jesus
is the ultimate sacrifice. The wages of sin are
death, but in God's mercy, he has provided us
the way. And I can't exemplify that enough. We
all deserve judgment because of our sin. We have
all fallen short of the glory of God, and only
through the grace of Jesus Christ do we have
any chance or semblance of salvation. So my first
point is mercy, the Old Testament and the law.
And we're going to take a look here on what that
actually looks like back in ancient times. So
Psalms 25, 6, it says, Remember your mercy, O
Lord, and your steadfast love, for they have
been from old. The heart of God is the start
of mercy. God is the sole provider of mercy and
he is merciful. His desire is to show mercy.
He so desires a relationship with humanity that
even when mankind fell into sin in the garden,
he reached out in mercy to clothe Adam and Eve.
The Old Testament proclaims God's mercy and his
plan for humanity. It shows the inexhaustible
nature of God's mercy. And so here in the Old
Testament, when we look at it, mercy is linked
with the loving kindness and the steadfast love
of God, the creator. This is further tied to
the covenant of love for God's chosen people,
the Israelites. Philip Towner said, God's covenant
love are integrally related. So close is the
relationship that Chesed sometimes is viewed
in terms of mercy. In this relationship, mercy
then comes to be seen as the equality in God
that directs him to forge a relationship with
people who absolutely do not deserve to be in
relationship with him. It is neither theory nor
principle. God's mercy is a driving force in
leading him to create relationship with Israel.
Psalms 40, 10 through 11 says, Have not hidden
your deliverance within my heart. I have spoken
of your faithfulness and your salvation. I have
not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness
from the great congregation. For you, O Lord,
you... And the Lord said to Moses, this very
thing that you have spoken, I will do for you.
This is Exodus 33, 17 through 19. You have found
favor in my sight, and I know you by name. Moses
said, please show me your glory. And he said,
I will make all goodness pass before you and
will proclaim before you my name. So Exodus,
Leviticus, Deuteronomy numbers finish up the
Pentateuch and the books of the law. In Exodus,
we see the covenant renewed in chapter 34. Exodus
34 .10 says, Such as not have been created in
all the earth or in any nation, and all the people
among whom you shall see the work of the Lord,
for it is an awesome thing that I will do with
you. So in Exodus, we receive the law with the
Ten Commandments, the making of the ark, and
the covenant, and the detailing of much of what
was required under the law. So the ark of the
covenant and mercy seat are these pictures that
we have from the Old Testament. The Ark of the
Covenant was built to contain and memorialize
the commitment made between God and Israel and
further than that to mankind through Israel.
It is a testimony to God's desire to extend grace
and it points us to Jesus. The law shows us that
God is holy and we are in desperate need of God's
grace and mercy. That is why the mercy seat is
crafted to sit on the Ark. It is to remind us
all that God is the rightful judge and he sits
upon the covenant that he made with the Israelites.
We will divide or we will dive into this further.
But for right now, remember that the mercy seat
is critical to the new covenant and to the grace
that flows from Jesus. This brings me to my next
point, which is bloody sacrifice. The Israelites
had this covenant with God, but in time, in the
time before Jesus, The covenant required blood.
The skin of mankind always required, or the sin
of mankind always required sacrifice as a covering,
and blood was part of that offering. So how do
you atone? You atone through sacrifice. Through
all the above sacrifices, we see that sin, both
unintentional and intentional, required an atonement.
Praying and saying you're sorry just wasn't enough.
During the high holy days from Rosh Hashanah
or Yom Teru, the Feast of Trumpets, to Yom Kippur,
the Day of Atonement, the Jewish people in Israel
and around the world prepare their hearts and
come humbly before God. They present themselves
in repentance and humility with the hope that
the Lord would accept their offerings. In prayer
and supplication, they ask to be inscribed into
the Book of Life for another year to come. As
believers in Jesus, we have assurance of the
pardon that our names are inscribed in the book
of life, not by our works, but through faith.
And we do not need to be asked to be inscribed
every year as Christ's work was and is final.
There were voluntary sacrifices as well, three
voluntary sacrifices. The first was the burnt
offering, a voluntary act of worship to express
devotion and commitment to God. It was also used
as atonement for unintentional sins. the elements
of the burnt offering were the bull a bird or
a ram without blemish the meat and the bones
and the organs of the animal were to be totally
burned and this was god's portion the animal's
hide was given to the levites who could later
sell it to earn money for themselves the second
voluntary offering was the grain offering for
which The fruit of the field was offered in a
form of a cake or a baked bread made of grain,
fine flour with oil and salt. The grain offering
was one of the sacrifices accompanied by a drink
offering, which was poured out into the fire
on the altar. In Numbers 15, 4 through 5, it
says, Then he who brings these offerings shall
offer to the Lord a grain offering of a tenth
of an ephaph of flour. Mixed with a quarter of
oil and you shall offer with the burnt offering
for the sacrifice, a quarter of wine for the
drink offering for each lamb. The purpose of
the grain offering was to express thanksgiving
and recognition of God's provision and unmerited
goodwill toward the person making the sacrifice.
The priests were given a portion of this offering,
but it had to be eaten within the court of tabernacle.
So the final or the third final offering or voluntary
offering was the peace offering, which was considered.
You know, an unblemished animal from the worship
is heard or various grains or breads. This was
a sacrifice of thanksgiving and fellowship followed
by a shared meal. The high priest was giving
the breast of the animal. The officiating priest
was giving the right foreleg. The pieces of the
offering were called the wave offering and the
heave offering because they were waved or lifted
over the altar during the ceremony. The fat,
the kidneys, the lobe of liver were given to
God burnt. and the remainder of the animal was
for the participants to eat, symbolizing God's
provision. The vow offering, the thanksgiving
offering, and the free will offering mentioned
in the Old Testament were all peace offerings.
Then we come to the mandatory sacrifices. There
were two mandatory sacrifices in the Old Testament
law. The first was the sin offering. The purpose
of the sin offering was to atone for the sins
and cleanse from defilement. There were five
possible elements of a sin offering or a sin
sacrifice, a young bull, a male goat, a female
goat, a dove, pigeon, or one -tenth ephaph of
fine flour. The type of animal depended on the
identity and the financial situation of the giver.
A female goat was the sin offering for a common
person. Fine flour was the sacrifice for the
very poor. A young bull was offered for the high
priest and the congregation as a whole, and so
on. These sacrifices each had specific instructions
for what to do with the blood of the animal during
the ceremony. The fatty portions, the lobe of
the liver and the kidneys were always given to
God as a burnt offering, and the rest of the
animal was either totally burned on the altar
with the ashes thrown outside the camp in atoning
for the high priest and the congregation, or
they were eaten within the tabernacle court.
There were other mandatory sacrifices. for trespass
offerings, and this sacrifice was exclusively
a ram. The trespass offering was given as atonement
for unintentional sins that required reimbursement
to the offended party, and also cleansing from
defiling sin or physical maladies. Again, the
fatty portions, kidneys, and liver were offered
to God, and the remainder of the ram had to be
eaten outside the court of tabernacle. So you
can see before Christ came, it was a very laborious
thing to achieve atonement. There was lots of
blood. There was lots of death. There was lots
of covering that was required to obtain the mercy
from the Lord. And this is meant to highlight
the predicament that we are in and the nature
of sin and how much it requires. an atonement,
or some sort of justice, or something to take
place for the sins that we have committed. Something
has to be done to remove the blood of sin that's
upon our lives. Which brings me to my final point,
which is mercy through Christ. Hebrews 9, 11
through 14 says, But when Christ appeared as
a high priest of the good things that come, then
through the greater, more perfect tent, not made
with hands, that is not of his creation, He entered
once for all into the holy place, not by means
of the blood of goats and calves, but by means
of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling
of the defiled person with ashes of a heifer,
sanctifying for the purification of the flesh,
how much more will the blood of Christ, who through
the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish
to God, purify our conscience from dead works
to serve the living God. Jesus Christ was the
fulfillment of law. The sacrifices in the Old
Testament all pointed towards a perfect final
sacrifice, which was Christ. As with the rest
of the law, the sacrifices were a shadow of things
that were to come. The reality, however, is found
in Christ. In Colossians 2 .17, it says, Christians
today recognize Christ's atoning death on the
cross. as the only needed sacrifice for sin offered
once and for all. His death opened the holy place
for us so that we could freely enter into God's
presence and offer our sacrifice of praise. He
was the perfect sacrifice, Jesus, the greatest
sacrifice in the Bible. Jesus is our high priest
who sympathizes with us and understands our weaknesses,
as he was tested in every way as we are, but
he did it without sin. In Hebrews 4, 15, it says,
so it's verses 14 through 16. with confidence
draw near to the throne of grace that we may
receive mercy and find grace to help him in time
of need. The writer in Hebrew further explains
that because Jesus holds his priesthood permanently,
he is able to save forever those who draw near
to God through him. Additionally, he always intercedes
for them. For it was fitting for us to have such
a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled. So
finally, the gospel of Jesus Christ is... power
in and of itself. And in Hebrews, we see that
the blood of Christ purifies. In Hebrews 9, 13
through 14, we read about this, about the blood
of goats and bulls, the sprinkling of the defiled
person with ashes of the heifer sanctifying and
purification of the flesh. But with Christ, who
through eternal spirit was offered without blemish
to God, he purifies our conscience forever of
the dead works because we serve a living God.
The blood of goats and bulls in the Old Testament,
we read about the need for bloody sacrifice,
the continual cleansing of the people of Israel.
But with the coming Messiah, Jesus changed this
forever. In Matthew 27, 51, it says, And behold,
the curtain of the temple was torn in two from
top to bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks
were split. In John 20, 11 through 2, it says,
but Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. And
as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb.
And when she saw two angels in white sitting
where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the
head and one at the feet, the Holy Spirit empowered
Christ for his sacrifice. And he is the perfect
sacrifice. The Old Testament sacrifices were
physically unblemished, but Christ was morally
pure without sin. Christ is the mercy seat. The
forgiveness we experience is deep, personal,
and glorious, allowing us to become servants
of God. Christ, the perfect sacrifice, offered
himself to God and ransomed slaves of sin, allowing
them to serve the living God. His blood is the
only blood we need. He forever fulfills the debt
that we owe when we repent and cling to him as
our Lord and Savior. So if I can have every head
bowed, every eye closed, wherever you're listening.
This was a quick message today, but I just want
to hone in real quick on the invitation. We all
have the opportunity to partake in the grace
that is freely given by Christ Jesus, our Savior.
If only we will accept him as our Lord and Savior.
So if your heart is not right right now with
him, and you want to accept Jesus Christ, you
want to get your heart right with God. You can
signify that with an uplifted hand wherever you
are. God will see it. If you did that and you
meant it, I just want you to repeat a prayer
after me. It's a very simple prayer. It's just,
Dear Lord God, I know that I'm a sinner. But
I know that you sent your son, Jesus Christ,
and that he died for me on the cross. I repent
of my sin. I turn away from the life that I had
lived. And I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and
Savior. And I thank you for your saving grace.
In Jesus' name. Amen. If you prayed that prayer
wherever you are, and if you meant it, God is
going to change something in you. God is going
to change your life, and now you will be a new
creation in Christ's name. And if you did pray
that prayer, I hope you'll reach out, let me
know, and I can send you a Bible. I'd love to,
you know, help you out and pray for you, that
God will lift you up, and that as a new creation
in Christ, that you'll go forward with that renewed
freedom. It only comes by dropping the weight
of sin and giving it to Jesus. So I want to thank
you for listening to me today. And I really pray
that God moves in your life and that you come
back and listen to us next time. And remember
to check us out like on YouTube. We live stream
our services there as well. And all that stuff
is in the show notes, all the ways to get in
touch with us, to follow us on Instagram, Facebook,
whatever you prefer. But we're moving in seminar.
We're trying to. build a community that will
eventually touch the nations from here with the
gospel of Jesus Christ. So pray for us, help
us, and join arms with us. If you're in Salmon
Arm, come and visit us. And we thank you for
listening. And just God bless. I can't wait for
you to come back next time. Thank you for listening.
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