In the Groove-Remembering the Blood

For the past few weeks we have seen how the Bible teaches us the importance of staying in the groove or in-step with the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 5:25 (NASB95) If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Galatians 5:25 (ESV) Since we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

Galatians 5:25 (MSG) Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives.

One of the ways the Holy Spirit changes the details of our life, if we will let Him, is by helping us remember the Words of Jesus, by guiding us into the truth of the Gospel and by glorifying Jesus in us and through us.

John 14:26 (NASB95) “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

The Spirit will help us remember the scriptures — all the things that Jesus said in the NT.

And…

John 16:13–15 (NASB95) “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14 “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. 15 “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.

The Holy Spirit brings the Word of God to our remembrance, He guides us into the truth and He glorifies Jesus …

The incarnation, or birth of Jesus — it truly IS a glorious event!

The sinless life of Jesus that was full of compassion, miracles, teachings on the Kingdom of God, selflessness …

The Holy Spirit uses the Lord’s Supper to remind us, to guide us, to show us the glory of the suffering of Jesus in fulfilment of many OT prophesies, not the least of which is ...

Isaiah 53:3–12 (NASB95) [which tells us hundreds of years before He was born that Jesus would be] … despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging [by His stripes] we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? 9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. 10 But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; [Since]He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. 11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the [spoils] with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.

The Holy Spirit will enable us to remember and glorify the sacrifice of Jesus as we partake of the Lord’s Supper.

Most certainly, the Holy Spirit reminds us of, and guides us into the glory of the resurrection — Jesus is not dead, He is GLORIOUSLY alive.

The ascension of Jesus to the right hand of the Father where He ever lives to interceded for us — where He is preparing a place for us that where He is we will be.

And so much more!

But this morning before we partake of the Lord’s Supper, I want to remind us again about the power, the efficacy, the GLORY of the Blood of Jesus.

I believe the Holy Spirit will bring to our constant remembrance, guide us into an understanding, an appreciation for and into contact with the glory of what the Blood of Jesus has done and is doing.

Because it is through the GLORIOUS, shed Blood of Jesus that we have:

Redemption

Justification

Reconciliation

Sanctification, and

Access to God.

Just to name a few things the Blood does for us.

Oh, this morning let the Holy Spirit remind you, guide you and reveal the glory of …

Redemption

Redemption through the Blood of Jesus.

Believers have been redeemed and forgiven.

Our salvation has been purchased through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God who died for our sins and took upon Himself our guilt and penalty for those sins.

Ephesians 1:7–8a (NASB95) In Him [Jesus] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He lavished on us. …

A few minutes ago, we sang the old hymn… Redeemed how I love to proclaim it!

Do we?

Do we love to proclaim our redemption through the Blood of Jesus?

Redemption, what the Fire Bible describes as:

[being] “ransomed or restored by the payment of a price.”

To be redeemed also relates to being rescued and set free.

The term “redemption” is very fitting because it shows how spiritual salvation was obtained—by the payment of a ransom.

The price Jesus paid to save and restore us spiritually was extremely costly: “through his blood.”

As says 1 Peter 1:18–19 (NLT) For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.

The Apostle Paul explains that God’s provision of “redemption” and spiritual salvation through Christ’s personal sacrifice covers the full range of human need.

This includes our need of forgiveness, spiritual liberation, restoration to a right relationship with God, peace, love, new life, understanding, community, acceptance, security, hope and victory in our conflict against Satan and his forces of evil.

Redeemed how I love to proclaim it! Indeed!

I am praying that these cards that we distribute to others will help us gain confidence to proclaim the redemption we have through the Blood.

Justification

Not only have we been redeemed, but we have been justified.

As we stand before God, He sees the Blood of His Son and I am justified

It is just-as-if-I’d never sinned.

As another old hymn says: “I came to Jesus, weary, worn and sad… He took my sins away.”

He justified me!

God declares us not guilty, because by the gift of faith we have accepted Christ as Savior.

He has declared us righteous in His sight, applying the righteousness of Christ to our accounts.

Romans 5:8–9 (NASB95) But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.

What a joyful declaration we can make!

Jesus has justified us through His Blood.

His Blood takes our sins away.

Reconciliation

Redeemed, justified and reconciled.

Colossians 1:19–22 (NASB95) For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. 21 And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, 22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—

Jesus’ blood makes it possible for God to bring us back into a right relationship with Him.

The Bible says we were enemies of God until we accepted Christ.

Christ’s blood is the bridge, the peace offering, that reconciles us to God.

Sanctification

Redeemed, justified, reconciled … and sanctified.

Hebrews 9:13–14 (NASB95) For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Hebrews 13:11–14 (NASB95) For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp. 12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. 13 So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. 14 For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.

Through the Blood of Jesus, not the blood of goats or bulls, we are sanctified..

A process whereby we are set apart from sin.

And set apart TO God for His pleasure, His purposes, His will.

Sanctification is both instantaneous when we repent of our sins and surrender our lives to God.

And it is an ongoing process as He continues to sanctify us to make us clean vessels properly prepared for His good works.

1 John 1:7 (NASB95) but if we walk [and keep on walking] in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

In our on-going walk the glorious Blood of Jesus keeps on cleansing our sin — as says 2 Timothy 2:21 (NASB95) [we] will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

Access

And finally this morning, lets allow the Holy Spirit to remind us of, to guide us into and show us the glory of access to God’s throne of grace

Hebrews 10:19–22 (NLT) And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20 By His death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. 21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting Him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

The reason we can cry out and be heard by God is because of Jesus’ Blood

Hebrews 4:16 (NLT) So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

The Glory of the Blood of Jesus

Praise God for the glory of the Blood!

The Holy Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are redeemed, justified, reconciled, sanctified, and that through the blood of Jesus, we have access to God.

Access to grace, access to Philippians 4:19 (NASB95) [our] God [who] will supply all our needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Have you experienced the glory of the Blood?

And I have only scratched the surface of what the Blood of Jesus did and does.

Don’t delay…

Repent of your sins

Surrender your life to Jesus.

Pray a simple but sincere prayer …

For those who HAVE been born again, can you lift up your hands and your voices and give thanks to God for the precious, GLORIOUS Blood of Jesus?

The Lord’s Supper

For those who have experienced the glorious Blood of Jesus, it is a privilege to partake of the Lord’s Supper

BUT, we are never to approach this table in anything less than a very sober and introspective way.

As says 1 Corinthians 11:26 (LSB) … as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes.

So, we approach this time asking that the Lord cleanse us from anything that keep us from partaking worthily:

1 Corinthians 11:27–30 (NLT) So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. 29 For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.

We must ask ourselves…

To what or to whom am I committed?

James 4:4 (NLT) … Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.

1 Corinthians 10:15–17 (LSB) I speak as to prudent people. You judge what I say. 16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? 17 Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

1 Corinthians 10:21 (LSB) You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.

May the Holy Spirit reveal anything that would indicate a greater allegiance to this world than to Jesus.

So that we may repent and be cleansed to partake worthily of the Lord’s Supper together.

PRAYER: To be made worthy to partake.

INSTRUCTIONS:

As Sister Becky comes to serve the bread.

As the Worship Team comes and receives the elements in preparation for us all partaking together at the same time…

You don’t have to be a member to partake.

Please pick up a cup of juice that reminds us of the Blood of Jesus shed for us.

Please receive a piece of the bread that reminds us of the Body of Jesus beaten, pierced and crucified in our place.

Please hold these 2 emblems until we can all partake together at the same time.

Please stand across the front as one big family of God.

For so we are in Christ.

BREAD:

Isaiah 53:3–6 (LSB) He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our peace fell upon Him, And by His wounds we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But Yahweh has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.

Prayer over the Bread:

End prayer with prayer from Seder:

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, who brings forth bread from the earth.

CUP:

Hebrews 9:11–14 (NLT) So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. 12 With His own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—He entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever. 13 Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. 14 Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered Himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.

Prayer over the Cup:

End prayer with prayer from Seder:

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.

Jesus IS coming back!

1 Corinthians 11:26 (LSB) For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes.

And we want to be faithful in telling others until we go to be with Him or He comes to get us.

So, would you return to your seats and pick up your TrueLife invitation cards, so that we can pary over them?

TrueLife Cards

“Dear Lord, please help us to be faithful this week in reaching others for you.

These five cards in our hands represent five real people that you died on the cross for and the least we can do is reach out to them by giving them an invitation through these cards.

Help us not to be afraid, and reference the "What to Say Cards" if we forget what to say.

In Jesus’ Name amen."