THE
AWESOME POWER OF
JESUS’ PRECIOUS BLOOD!
By
Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.
Jesus said: “For
from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts,
adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness,
deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”
(Mark 7: 21-23)
Any honest person will admit that it’s hard to
be good. Man’s natural tendency is toward that which is sinful,
immoral and illegal! You don’t need to teach children how to lie.
That comes naturally to them, even before they have learned to speak.
When asked if he has raided the cookie jar, little Billy will shake
his head meaning “no”, even while he is hiding it behind his
back!
The
questions I pose are:
“Where did sin come from? Why are we in this terrible predicament?
Is there any hope of being free?”
The Bible – our highest
moral authority – gives it to us straight: “Ye are of your
father, the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will
do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not
in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a
lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the
father of it.” (John 8: 44)
THERE
WAS NO SIN IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN, until Satan
introduced it to our first parents, Adam and Eve! When they rebelled
against the Almighty, disobeying His command, sin entered into the
world. With sin came guilt, condemnation, sickness and death; as
well as perdition, damnation – Hell!
There was no hope for
mankind - until God in His mercy - sent His Son Jesus Christ to bear
our punishment and die in our place, shedding His pure and perfect
blood as atonement for our sins! Then, He arose from the dead, a
Mighty Conqueror over sin, death, hell and the grave!
The Bible says: “Jesus
was delivered for our offences (sins), and raised again for our
justification.” (Rom. 4: 25) Justification is an act of
free grace by which God pardons the sinner and accepts him as
righteous, because of the atonement of Christ. Faith is the only
means of justification. (Rom.3: 25)
God’s Word states: “For
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; Being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus.” (Rom.3: 23, 24); “For the wages of sin is
death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord.” (Rom.6: 23)
The Bible says: “For
when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for
the ungodly. But God commendeth His love toward us, in that,
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much
more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall
be saved from wrath through Him.
For if when we were
enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death
of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by
His life.” (Rom.5: 6-10)
HERE
IS THE GREATEST LOVE STORY EVER
TOLD!
“For God so loved
the world that He grace His (One and only) begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the
world; but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:
16-17)
The Bible says,
“Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.”
(Lev. 17:11,14) “It is the blood that maketh atonement for the
soul.” (Heb. 9:22) “And the blood of Jesus Christ,
His Son, cleanseth us from all sins.” (1John 1:9)
The blood of Jesus,
shed for us all on Golgotha, has purchased our salvation! When a
sinner comes to Jesus, however, he receives a NEW
NATURE - the nature of God! The Bible says: “Whereby are
given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye
might be partakers of the DIVINE
NATURE, having escaped the corruption that is in the world
through lust.” (1 Peter 1: 4)
I) WE RECEIVE
FORGIVENESS OF OUR SINS THROUGH HIS BLOOD!
“In
Whom we have redemption through His blood, even
THE FORGIVENESS OF
SINS, according
to the riches of His grace”. (Eph. 1:7) The heaviest weight to
carry is the ‘load
of sin’. And
the greatest blessing in the world is the removal of that horrible
burden!
The
Bible says: “There is therefore no
condemnation to
them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but
after the Spirit.” (Rom. 8:1) “Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven,
whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth
not iniquity…” (Ps.32: 1,2)
(II)
WE RECEIVE REDEMPTION THROUGH HIS BLOOD!
“Forasmuch
as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as
silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition
from your fathers; But with the
precious blood of Christ,
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:”
(1 Peter 1:18-19)
“Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock…which
He hath purchased with His own blood.” (Acts 20:28)
To be redeemed means to be bought back, set
free, rescued, saved! We were lost in sin, slaves to the devil,
the world and self. And then, Jesus the Christ came to our rescue and
purchased our freedom, through His sacrificial death on the cross for
us!
(III) WE RECEIVE CLEANSING
FROM SIN THROUGH HIS BLOOD!
“But if we walk in the light, as He is in the
light, we have fellowship one with another, And the blood of Jesus
Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sins.” (1 John 1:7)
To be cleansed means to be made clean, washed,
purged! We were unclean – sinners by birth, nature and choice.
The Bible states: “But we were all as an unclean thing, and all
our righteousness are as filthy rags…and our iniquities,
like the wind, have taken us away.” (Is. 64: 6)
“All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid upon
Him (Messiah Jesus) the iniquity of us all.” (Is. 53: 6)
Jesus’ blood
makes us clean in the sight of Almighty God. His vicarious death
for us satisfied the demands of Divine Justice. God honours Christ’s
act of substitution on our behalf – so we are free. He paid our
debt! (Col. 2:14,15)
(IV) WE HAVE
DELIVERANCE FROM OUR SINS BY HIS BLOOD!
“And
from Jesus Christ, Who is the faithful witness, and the first
begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. Unto
Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.”
(Rev. 1:5)
To
be free from the guilt of sinfulness is wonderful. To walk in victory
over sin by the power of Jesus’ blood is a definite reality. Only
in the strength of the Holy Spirit is this possible! This text
states: “Unto Him
that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.”
Our
sins are gone forever
– they have no more power over us! Past sins are forgiven and
forgotten by our Lord. And we receive strength through Jesus’
blood, the Holy Spirit and the Word of God to overcome new
temptations!
(V)
WE ARE JUSTIFIED THROUGH HIS BLOOD!
“Being now justified by His blood, we shall be
saved from wrath through Him.” (Rom. 5:9) “Being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in His blood, to declare the righteousness for the
remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.”
(Rom. 3:24-25)
To
be justified means to be made right and just in the sight of God.
Through Jesus’ blood, we are able to stand in God’s presence
without fault, fear or condemnation. God looks upon us through the
blood of Jesus, His Son and does not see our sins and shortcomings!
The
Bible says: “Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit
of corruption; for
Thou has cast all
my sins behind Thy back.”
(Is. 38: 17) The Hebrew word that is used here for back is very
specific. Literally, it says: “behind
Thy back, between Thy shoulder blades.”
It is impossible to see something behind one’s back, between his
shoulder blades!
“…He
will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; and Thou
wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”
(Micah 7:19)
(VI) WE RECEIVE PEACE
THROUGH HIS BLOOD!
“And
having made peace through the death of His cross, by Him to receive
all things unto Himself.” (Col. 1:20) Life’s most precious
commodity is peace
of mind. People
spend fortunes seeking peace through vacation, exotic travel, erotic
pleasure, new therapies and alternate medicines, often to no avail!
Real
peace of mind comes only through receiving Christ: “Therefore being
justified by faith, we
have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom 5:1) “And the peace of God, which
passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:7)
Here
is GOD’S WARNING to the
ungodly: “But the
wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters
cast up mire and dirt.
There is no peace sayeth my God to the wicked.” (Is.57: 20,21)
(VII)
WE RECEIVE ACCESS TO THE FATHER THROUGH HIS BLOOD!
“Having
therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living
way, which He
hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, His
flesh.” (Heb. 10:19-20)
The
blood that Jesus shed provides access
for us into the very presence of God in Heaven. THE
BLOOD OF JESUS DID NOT DIE!
David
prophesied of Messiah: “Therefore My heart is glad, and My glory
rejoiceth: My flesh
also shall rest in hope. For Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell;
neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption.”
(Ps.16: 9,10)
In his Pentecostal message, St. Peter
quoted David’s prophecy to prove that Jesus was raised from the
dead, without His body corrupting! (Acts 2: 25-27)
JESUS’
BLOOD IS ALIVE and grants us access into God’s
presence! Jesus fulfilled all the requirements of both the ‘Sacrifice
Lamb’ and ‘High Priest’, when He gave Himself as our
substitute in the “death of the cross”. (Phil.2: 8)
The
Bible says: “Seeing then that we have a Great High Priest, that is
passed into the heavens, Jesus
the Son of God,
let us hold fast our profession. Which hope we have as an anchor of
the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that
within the veil;
Whither the
forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus,
made an high priest for ever
after the order of Melchisedic.” (Heb.4: 14; 6: 19,20)
“But
this Man, because He continueth forever, hath an unchangeable
priesthood.
Wherefore He is able to save them to the uttermost that come to God
by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.
“For
such an high priest…Who
is holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the
heavens; Who
needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice,
first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this
He did ONCE,
when He offered up HIMSELF.”
(Heb. 7:24-27)
“But
Christ being come an high
priest of good things to come,
by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands…not
of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves,
BUT BY HIS OWN BLOOD
He entered in
once into the Holy Place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us.
“For
if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of an heifer
sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purification of the flesh:
How much more shall
not the
blood of Christ, Who through the eternal Spirit OFFERED
HIMSELF without
spot to God,
purge your
conscience from
dead works to serve the Living God?
“And
for this cause He is the mediator of the New Testament, that BY
MEANS OF DEATH, for
the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first
testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal
inheritance.” (Heb. 9: 11-15)
“By
the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of
Jesus Christ once for all.
And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes
the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But THIS
MAN,
after He had offered one
sacrifice for sins for ever,
sat down on the right hand of God. (Heb.10: 10-12) “Having
therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the HOLIEST
BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS.”
(Heb.10: 19)
When Jesus appeared to Mary at the
tomb, He said: “Touch Me not; for I am not yet ascended to My
Father: but go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend
unto My Father, and your Father; and to My God and your God.” (John
20: 17) He had to carry HIS OWN BLOOD
into the ‘holy of holies’ in heaven, to atone for the sins of the
entire world, before anyone was allowed to touch Him!
WHY?
The high priest was not allowed contact with anyone on the ‘Day
of Atonement’, until he had finished his ministration. He alone
could enter the holiest – where God’s presence was - with the
sacrificial blood of an innocent animal, to sprinkle on the mercy
seat for his sins and that of his nation!
If God accepted the offering, he
returned with the good news. If He did not, the high priest would die
and had to be ‘pulled out’ by a rope that was tied to his left
ankle. No one else could enter God’s AWESOME
presence and live!
Dealing with sin is serious business. An
innocent life had to die so that sin could be forgiven! That is why
Jesus, God’s Son, came to this earth as ‘Jehovah’s Suffering
Servant’ (Is. 53) to suffer, bleed and die in our place, to
implement God’s great salvation plan to redeem fallen mankind!
The great theologian, DR.
ARTHUR MURRAY , in his powerful book ‘The
Blood of His Cross’ states: “Reconciliation and deliverance
from guilt will become the blessed entrance for us into a life in
which the blood - as it was transported into heaven and abides
there – will be truly the power of divine abiding life in us.”
DR. MARTIN LUTHER
writes: “First, the Blood of Christ remains the blood of
the same Christ. For we believe and hold that the Blood of Christ
that is NOW at the right hand of God was shed for us ONCE
ONLY.” (Church and Ministry, Luther’s Works vol. 40, page
215)
St. Peter writes: “Forasmuch as ye
know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things,
as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition
from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of
a lamb without blemish and without spot.” (1 Peter 1: 18,
19)
The BLOOD of Jesus Christ was pure
and perfect and COULD NOT be corrupted. It is incorruptible and alive
today! In his powerful book, ‘The Chemistry of the Blood’,
Dr. M.R. DeHann, M.D. writes:
“The blood of Jesus is sinless
blood, and since it is sinless, it is incorruptible, for sin brings
corruption, and where no sin is there is NO corruption…Every drop
of blood that flowed in Jesus’ body is still in existence, and is
just as fresh as it was when it flowed from His wounded brow and
hands and feet and side.
“The blood that flowed from
His unbroken skin in Gethsemane, the blood that was smeared about His
back when the cruel weighted thongs cut through His flesh as the
flagellator and scourged Him, the blood that oozed out from under the
thorny crown and flowed from His hands, His head, His feet was never
destroyed for it was incorruptible blood.
“David in speaking of Him in the
Sixteenth Psalm, which Peter quotes in Acts 2, says: “Thou wilt
not leave My soul in hell; neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to
see corruption.”
“Although the
body of the Lord Jesus Christ lay in the tomb in death for three days
and three nights, no corruption entered it for that body contained
incorruptible blood. Lazarus being dead only one day more was said by
his sister to be STINKING with corruption. Sinful blood was absent
from his flesh.
“That blood, every drop of
it, is still in existence. Perhaps when the High Priest ascended into
Heaven, He went, like the high priest of old, into the Holy of
holies, in the presence of God, to sprinkle the blood upon the Mercy
Seat in Heaven, of which the material Mercy Seat and Ark in the
Tabernacle were mere copies. In Hebrews we read:
“It was therefore necessary that
the patterns of things in the heavens (referring to the earthly
Tabernacle) should be purified with these (that is, the blood of
beasts); but the heavenly things themselves with Better Sacrifices
than these.
“For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands , which are the figures if the true;
but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
Nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest
entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others…but
now once in the end of the whole world hath He appeared to PUT AWAY
SIN by the sacrifice of Himself.” (Heb.9: 23-26)
“After Christ had made the
atonement, He arose from the tomb, and then, as the eternal High
priest, ascended into Heaven to present the blood in the Holy of
Holies where God dwells, and that blood is there today, pleading for
us and prevailing for us.
“The priest in the Tabernacle
never spoke a word. All he did was present the blood, and that was
enough. Perhaps there is a golden chalice in Heaven where every drop
of the precious blood is still in existence, just as pure, just as
potent, just as fresh as two thousand years ago.”
DR. DeHANN points out that,
‘it is a significant fact among all the pieces of the
furniture of the Tabernacle there was no chair to be found. We read
of the altar, the table, the candlestick and the Lord’s Ark, but
there is no mention of a chair in the Tabernacle of Israel. The fact
simply signified that the work of the earthly priest who sprinkled
the blood of animal sacrifice was never done. He could not sit down.
His work was never finished. Of the Great High Priest Jesus Christ,
we read:
“But This Man, after he had
offered one sacrifice for sins FOREVER, sat down on the right hand of
God. For by one offering He hath perfected FOREVER them that are
sanctified.” (Heb.10: 12, 14)
CONCLUSION: Christ’s holy and pure
blood has been shed – the incorruptible, eternal, divine, sinless,
overcoming, precious BLOOD. It availed then, and it avails now; and
throughout all eternity it shall never lose its power! Hallelujah to
the Lamb Who for our sins was slain and who rose in power over death,
Hell and the grave!
He says: “I am He that liveth and
was dead; and behold, I am live for evermore, Amen; and have the KEYS
of Hell and Death.” (Rev.1:18)
(VIII) WE
RECEIVE DIVINE HEALING THROUGH HIS BLOOD!
“But
He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our
iniquities:
the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes
we
are healed.”(Is. 53:5) “Who His own self bare our sins in His own
body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto
righteousness: by Whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Pet. 2:24)
Through His wounds,
Jesus purchased divine healing for all who appropriate God’s
promises for themselves!
(IX)
WE RECEIVE VICTORY OVER THE DEVIL THROUGH HIS BLOOD!
“And
they overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of
their testimony.” (Rev. 12:11) There is no one as evil, deceptive
and wicked as Satan, the adversary of God and man. The
devil, however, is no match for Jesus. In His name, we can overcome
Satan’s temptations and onslaughts!
The
Bible says: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the
devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour:
Whom resist steadfast in the faith…” (1 Peter 5: 8, 9) “Submit
yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he shall
flee from you.” (James 4:7)
(X) WE ARE SANCTIFIED
THROUGH HIS BLOOD!
“Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify
His people with His own blood, suffered without the gate.” (Heb.
13:12) To be sanctified, means to be set apart for God.
Sanctification is a holy state in which we are given over wholly to
the Lord. We are separated unto the Lord, from the world!
The Bible says: “…to the elect according to
the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the
Spirit unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ: grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.” (1 Peter
1: 1, 2)
DR. ANDREW MURRAY
stated: “Everything is of the Father,
everything is in the Son, everything is through
the Spirit. The entire carrying out of the counsel
of God is through the Holy Spirit, and the sanctification and the
impartation of divine holiness which He works.”
(XI) WE RECEIVE A CLEAR
CONSCIENCE THROUGH HIS BLOOD!
“How
much more shall the blood of Christ, Who through the Eternal Spirit
offered Himself without spot to God, purge
your conscience
(mind) from dead works, to serve the Living God?” (Heb. 9:14)
No amount of counselling can give a person a
clear conscience. That comes only through confession of sin to God
and receiving assurance of sins forgiven by the blessed Holy Spirit.
Only the blood of Jesus Christ and the Word of
God has the power to cleanse, purge and free the conscience!
(XII) WE RECEIVE ETERNAL
GLORY THROUGH HIS BLOOD!
“These
are they which come out of great tribulation, and have washed their
robes and made them white in
the blood of the Lamb.
Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and
night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell
among them…
“For
the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and
shall lead them unto living fountains of water: and God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes.”
(Rev.7:14-17)
Ω
CHRIST’S
CROSS
AND
OUR SINS!
The
world has a way of crucifying those whom it does not like. Jesus told
the truth. The world could not stand the truth. The
world put Him to death.
What
sin really crucified Christ?
Was it Peter’s denial? Judas’ betrayal? The disciples’cowardice?
Can we blame Pilate for conforming to the crowd’s demands? Does the
fault lie with those who cried, “Crucify
Him”?
Did the priests weigh in on the crime?
It was
all these: Denial!
Betrayal! Cowardice! Conformity! Pride! Jealousy!
These
sins nailed Christ to the tree. And we are troubled when we see that
these very sins reside in us all. Therefore it is our pride, our
conformity, our betrayal which crucified the Lord Jesus!
The
cross of Christ speaks of our sin!
But, for those who admit weakness and spiritual poverty, the cross
becomes the power of God unto salvation.” – anon.
