October 20 - Power In The Blood

Power In The Blood

"The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:7)

The greatest evangelist of the Twentieth Century, without question, was Billy Graham. The greatest evangelist before him of the Nineteenth Century, undoubtedly was Dwight L. Moody. Both shared a common characteristic. They were criticized because of a particular subject they preached about.

When Billy Graham was getting started, a professor from Cornell University wrote him a letter and said, "Mr. Graham, you have great talent, and you have what it takes to be a successful minister. But if you want to continue to be successful, you are going to have to leave out the preaching on the blood. It is out of date and no enlightened man of the Twentieth Century will swallow it."

When Dwight L. Moody started preaching, a woman wrote him a letter and said, "Brother Moody, if you want to be effective, you are going to have to leave out that blood stuff." Dwight L. Moody said, like Dr. Graham after him, "I determined at that moment to preach more on the blood of Jesus Christ than ever before."

We are not only a people of the book…we are a people of the blood. The Bible is not only a blest book, it is a blood book. The word "blood" is found 415 times in the Bible. The Bible begins with blood in Genesis when Cain sheds the blood of his brother, Abel. It ends with blood in the book of the Revelation when the Lord Jesus returns wearing a robe "dipped in blood." (Rev. 19:13)

There is a scarlet thread that binds every page of this book. One author said, “You cut this book and it bleeds.” The reason for that is, all of the Bible can be summarized in a part of one sentence we are going to study today: "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:7) The only spiritual detergent that can remove the stain of sin from the human soul, is the blood of Jesus Christ. Whether you are a Christian or not, I want you to understand why this is true.

1. The Blood Comes From a Supernatural Person

This is not ordinary blood. There is no other blood like it. The blood that flowed in the veins of Jesus Christ was the pure, perfect, sinless blood of God the Son. One of the most incredible verses in the Bible is Acts 20:28. Here is what it says: "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood." A blood that was shed on the cross was the blood of God. Now this is crucial to understand because if it was God's blood, then it must be innocent blood.

Peter said in his epistle, "You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold,  but with the precious blood of Christ." (1 Pet. 1:18-19) The word precious literally means "valuable." Now if Jesus had not been innocent He could not have taken my guilt, because He would have had to have dealt with His own. The reason He could die for my sin is because He did not have to die for His sin.

2. The Blood Cleanses With Supernatural Power

Now it is extremely important to see that the verse does not say that the blood of Jesus Christ "has cleansed us," or "will cleanse us." It says specifically it "cleanses us." What it literally says is, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us and keeps on cleansing us. It cleanses us now, it cleanses us today, it cleanses us tomorrow. Every day that you need to be cleansed, the blood is available to do the job. But now let me give you the good news. You get saved today and tomorrow you lose your temper, just remember "the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us." If you get saved today and you let a bad word slip out tomorrow, just remember "the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us." If you get saved today and you think an impure thought tomorrow, just remember "the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us."

3. The Blood Completes a Supernatural Purpose

With God a person who is only partially clean is totally dirty. Would you let your dog into your house if only two of his paws were muddy? Absolutely not, and God will not let anyone into His heaven unless they have been cleansed from all of their sins.

The blood of Jesus is not something you add to your religion, or add to your ritual, or add to your righteousness, to cleanse you. His blood alone cleanses from all sin.

The highest holiday of the Jewish faith is Passover. It celebrates both the Exodus of the people of Israel from Egypt, but also that night when God's death angel passed through Egypt and slaughtered every firstborn of every household that did not have the blood of a lamb painted over the doorpost. God made a promise to His people. He said, "You paint the blood of a lamb over your doorpost and when I see the blood, I will pass over you."  It was a picture of what Christ would offer in the New Testament.

If there was any other way to be saved, any other way to be cleansed, any other way to be forgiven, any other way to be accepted, then Jesus would not have died nor shed one drop of His blood. But that He did die, and that He did shed His blood, tells us that only His blood can cleanse us from all sin. There really is power in the blood.

Terry Risser

Reflections:

1.    Why is the concept of blood hard for some of us to grasp?

Consider reading the Word:

Copyright 2014- Terry Risser