The Blood of Jesus Christ
A Sermon on Romans 3:25
Scripture
25whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in God’s merciful restraint He let the sins previously committed go unpunished;
25Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
Sermon Description
The Old Testament proclaims the need for a savior. Even the Jews knew to look for a messiah. By saying “in his blood,” Paul is alluding to the Old Testament practice of animal sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. Prior to Christ’s sacrifice, believers would have to sacrifice a clean animal in order for their sins to be blotted out. The blood of the animal is what deemed their sins forgiven, meaning that the death of the animal was necessary. The term “blood” is used to bring this teaching in line with the whole teaching of the Old Testament. In this sermon about “The Blood of Jesus Christ” from Romans 3:25, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones reminds that any interpretation of the New Testament should never contradict the teaching of the Old Testament. In contrast, Paul is now saying that blood means life rather than death. Since the Jews only thought of life in regards to a body, Christ’s sacrifice now shows that the blood He poured out means life. The Jews had to find an animal to be their substitute, but now God Himself has made Christ the substitute once and for all. In this sermon, Dr. Lloyd-Jones encourages rejoicing in the blood of Christ because He has paid the ransom.
The Book of Romans
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.