A0308_Nothing But the Blood
Date: 29th April 2007 (Sunday AM) Ref: A0308
Place: Kambah P.S.
Title: Nothing But the Blood
Text: & 1 John 1:7
Illust: At a great parliament of religions, held at Chicago many years ago, practically every known religion was represented, and many were the learned discourses delivered.
During one session, Dr. Joseph Cook, of Boston, suddenly rose and said: “Gentlemen, I beg to introduce to you a woman with a great sorrow. Blood stains are on her hands, and nothing she has tried will remove them. The blood is that of murder, and nothing will take away the stain. She has been driven to desperation in her distress. Is there anything in your religion that will remove her sin and give her peace?” A hush fell upon the gathering as the speaker turned from one to another for an answer. Not one of the company replied.
Raising his eyes heavenwards, Dr. Cook then cried out, “I will ask another question. John, can you tell this woman how to get rid of her awful sin?” The great preacher awaited, as if listening for a reply. Suddenly he cried, “Listen, John speaks: “The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (I John 1:7).”
Not a soul broke the silence; the representatives of Eastern religions and Western cults sat dumb. In the face of human need, they were without message of hope. The Gospel of Jesus Christ alone could meet the need. The sin of the race demanded the blood of Calvary.
I. What Can Wash Away My Sin
A. The importance of Blood
i. What is so important about the blood of Jesus? – What is that down through the ages men & women have written volumes on it, composed countless hymns about it & marvelled at the blood of Jesus.
ii. 1st a bit of physiology: (study of the function of living organisms) – What is blood?
Supply of oxygen to tissues (bound to hemoglobin which is carried in red cells)
Supply of nutrients such as glucose, amino acids and fatty acids (dissolved in the blood or bound to plasma proteins)
Removal of waste such as carbon dioxide, urea and lactic acid
Immunological functions, including circulation of white cells, and detection of foreign material by antibodies
Coagulation, which is one part of the body's self-repair mechanism
iii. The Red Cross Blood Service are always looking for Blood donors because it is essential to save lives. In a very real way, your blood is your life.
Leviticus 17:14 for it is the life of all flesh. Its blood sustains its life. Therefore I said to the children of Israel, ‘You shall not eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off.’ (NKJV)
Blood is symbolic of life, because it is life.
B. The Blood
i. When Adam & Eve sinned in the garden they forfeited life. And from the very beginning there has been the scarlet thread of “The Blood” running through the scriptures.
Genesis 3:21 Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. (NKJV)
Adam & Eve had attempted to cover their shame with the fig leaves. God from the beginning has said that this is not good enough. You can’t cover your guilt. The innocent animal was slain, blood was shed to make a covering for them.
In the first act of worship recorded in the Bible, Abel brought a “respected” offering. The shed blood of ‘the firstborn of his flock and of their fat’ – An acceptable offering of faith
Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. (NKJV)
We see a Ram’s blood shed in the place of Isaac on Mount Moriah, then some 400 years later Isaac’s descendants have become the people of Israel in slavery & bondage in the land of Egypt. Their deliverance life was made possible only through The Blood of a life sacrificed in their place and appropriated by "the sprinkling of that blood."
Exodus 12:13 Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. (NKJV)
ii. It is not an exaggeration to say that “there is no single scriptural idea, from Genesis to Revelation, more constantly and more prominently kept in view, than that expressed by the words-"THE BLOOD."” (Andrew Murray)
iii. It is further codified into law on Mt Horeb,
Exodus 24:8 And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.” (NKJV)
On Moriah the life was redeemed by the shedding of the blood. In Egypt it was sprinkled on the door posts of the houses; but at Sinai, it was sprinkled on the persons themselves. The contact was closer, the application more powerful.
Immediately after the establishment of the covenant the command was givers, "Let them make me a. sanctuary that I may dwell among them " (Exod. 25:8). ~ They were to enjoy the full blessedness of having the God of the Covenant abiding among them. Through His grace that they may find Him, and serve Him in His house.
It shows that there can be no approach to God; no fellowship with Him by faith; no enjoyment of His favour, apart from THE BLOOD.
It is The Blood that provides the covering the atonement for sin and ONLY The Blood
Leviticus 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.’ (NKJV)
Hebrews 9:22 And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. (NKJV)
II. There is Power
A. In the Blood of Jesus
i. But ultimately, the sacrifices of sheep & bulls & goats while providing a temporary covering just like the clothes of skin that God gave A & E in the garden could not resolve the sin problem completely.
Hebrews 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. (NKJV)
ii. More was needed. The righteous son of God, God become man, Jesus Christ came to be the sacrificial lamb to shed His blood once & for all to fulfil all the righteous requirements of the law & to do away with sin and its judgement upon man.
John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (NKJV)
Hebrews 10:10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (NKJV)
iii. It is the blood the precious blood of Jesus that cleanses us from sin ~ & Text – The continuance of the Scarlet Thread – The Blood
1 Peter 1:18-19 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. (NKJV)
Matthew 26:28 For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (NKJV)
B. Effectual
i. Deliverance: ~ Its The Blood of Jesus that is effective to bring deliverance to the captive, those bound in sin, addictions, torments. – When we are justified by The Blood, His Blood we can claim deliverance from the effects of out sin. It is the Blood that release the captives from Egypt.
Romans 5:9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. (NKJV)
ii. Cleansing: ~ Sin stains your heart; the guilt of it covers you like leprous sores. – There is a desperate need in the human heart for cleansing from sin. – It is The Blood that cleanses your heart from the stench & stain of sin.
Hebrews 9:14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (NKJV)
iii. Healing: ~ When Jesus shed His blood on that cross, as it flowed freely from His body on that cross, as it poured from His back as he was brutally whipped by the Roman soldiers, His blood that fell to the ground, He paid the complete & total price for salvation from sin & all its curses & effects. – Sickness is a part of the curse of sin over the human race. The Blood is effectual for your healing
Isaiah 53:5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. (NKJV)
III. Apply the Blood
A. Drink
i. The Israelites had to appropriate the covering of the blood at Passover by applying it to the doorways of their homes. The provision for salvation, healing, deliverance, cleansing has been provided through Jesus. It is up to each one of us to appropriate it, to make it effectual to you.
ii. Earlier I mentioned that there was a progression in the application of the blood, from Abel to Moses, where the blood was sprinkled on the people. Jesus brings it to the final personal application
John 6:54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. (NKJV)
iii. This does not mean that we literally are taking a cup of blood & start drinking it. What it means is a complete & total surrender to Jesus & to His will for your life. It means that you put on Christ. You make a conscience decision to lay down your life, take up the cross & follow Him.
Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (NKJV)
B. By Faith
i. Like everything in the Kingdom of God, the key word is “faith” – The Blood is to be applied by faith. That means that you believe for your salvation, your deliverance, your healing, your cleansing.
That indeed Jesus Blood has set me free, has healed me, has cleansed me. I am going to claim this.
ii. These are not my words, my concepts this is the clear testimony of the word of God, of the Scarlet Thread that runs throughout the entire Bible listen to the song of the 24 elders in the last book of the Bible.
Revelation 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, (NKJV)
iii. Believe this Speak it out in Faith.
There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains;