Power in the Blood #1

There is an underlying stability that is brought by understanding that the shed blood of Christ paid the price that the law requires against your guilt and there is nothing left to be done to satisfy the wrath of God.

It's all been paid on our behalf. The blood of Jesus Christ is in many ways the most precious gift God has ever given us. But sadly, many believers simply have no idea of the power it affords them. Welcome back to the Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. And today as Don continues teaching God's people God's word, he'll bring to light all that Christ has done on our behalf by the shedding of his precious blood on the cross of Calvary. Friend, if you're ready, let's continue in our series, Reflections on Our Lord, with part one of a message titled, Power in the Blood, here on the Truth Pulpit. We have been considering a passage from 1 Peter chapter 1, and I invite you to turn to that text one more time. We have been considering the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and it's been a delight to be able to do that together. And our main text, our central text, our foundational text, has been found in verse 17 through 19, which we've been looking at, where Peter says under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit this, If you address as Father the one who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth, knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

Now we looked at this text in, you could say, an expositional way. We saw that we are to live our lives in the fear of God while we walk on earth, because God is our eventual judge, and also we have been given a great redemption in Christ. And in response to that, there is a holy hush that comes over the heart in response and lives out life in response to that position of God and the work of Christ on our behalf. We kind of considered things from a theological perspective, you might say, and we answered this question, why is the blood of Jesus so precious? Peter says right there in verse 19 that it is precious blood that Christ shed on our behalf, and we saw last time that the blood of Christ has accomplished so much for us. And we looked at a series of different texts that ties the blood of Christ, His atoning sacrifice on our behalf, to our justification, our redemption, reconciliation with God, forgiveness of sin, holiness, purification, and sanctification. And so we see that Scripture ascribes these great themes of salvation and attributes them to the blood of Christ, that blood that He shed in a violent, shameful death at Calvary on behalf of His people that they might be reconciled to God. And so there is a lot to be unpacked as we consider the blood of Christ. What I wanted to do today is to add some practical implications for your life in Christ and some things that perhaps are a bit more devotional in their contemplation, certainly in contemplation of the Lord's table, which we will celebrate at the end of today's message, but just some things to encourage you in your walk with Christ as we contemplate this precious blood of Christ. Because the blood is not only precious, there is power in the blood.

It has the ability, it has the efficacy in order to achieve results on our behalf that we could not achieve on our own. The power of the blood, the power of the work and person of Christ on our behalf is magnificent, and we want to contemplate that and draw the encouragement from it that we can with the idea that it will condition our hearts to an even greater sense of gratitude as we take the elements in a short time. You see, you are like I am. You and I, we easily stumble with our many besetting sins. You and I easily stumble into resentment and bitterness against people in the body of Christ if we're not watching what we are doing and walking in the Spirit. You and I, we easily get discouraged in this hostile world and feel weighed down by the weight of relationships and circumstances and an uncertain future, whether it's in the world or in our lives or whatever the case may be.

Some of you no doubt struggle with a fear of death that lurks in the silent mode of an assassin trying to take away your joy as you contemplate it, or perhaps as you're remembering the death of someone in your own past that draws you away from the wonder of salvation and the glory of what Christ has accomplished on your behalf. We all need different aspects of these things. We all need strength. We all need encouragement, and that encouragement will be found as we contemplate the precious blood of Christ and the power of what He has accomplished on our behalf. Just a word up front. This message is quite a bit different from what I normally do.

I've done this a time or two in the past. But today I'm going to be quoting extensively from an article by Charles Spurgeon that is titled The Precious Blood in His Treasury of the New Testament. And so I'm going to point you to Scripture and then, as it were, invite the departed Baptist preacher into the pulpit alongside to speak to us.

Though he is dead, yet he speaks, and he has things on this topic to say that I wanted you to hear in his own words rather than with my stammering tongue. And so we're going to see six aspects of the power of the blood of Christ. We're going to go to different passages of Scripture, looking through it all to see what it is that our gracious Lord has accomplished on our behalf.

And what is it that He is working out by the power of the Holy Spirit according to the eternal decree of God? What is it that the blood of Christ is working out and accomplishing and making possible for us as we walk through this hostile land? Well, first of all, we see this about the blood of Christ. We see that the blood has power to preserve us.

The blood has power to preserve us. The shed blood of Jesus Christ perfectly satisfies what God requires from men. Whereas you and I, we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, you and I deserve judgment and condemnation from the hand of a holy God, the blood of Christ has been interposed on our behalf. If we are in Christ, if we have received Him by faith alone, the shed blood of Christ satisfies what God requires, satisfies the demands of the law for justice against our crimes against God, our cosmic crimes against God. The blood of Christ satisfies that and therefore preserves us even in the midst of the remnants of our remaining sin. The apostle Paul could not have been more clear on this point than he was when he said in Romans chapter 8 verse 1, there is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus our Lord. That means that even as you as a believer are struggling with your besetting sins, there is a continual aspect of the cleansing blood of Christ being applied to your soul that perfectly satisfies what God requires on your behalf. And so we rest in Him. Even while we understand that we are still sinful, even as we are confessing our sins, there is an underlying stability that is brought by understanding that the shed blood of Christ paid the price that the law requires against your guilt and there is nothing left to be done to satisfy the wrath of God.

It's all been paid on our behalf. And when you think about that, beloved, then you should understand something very, very significant. I like to make this point. I would do well if I made it every time I stepped into a pulpit. But the blood of Jesus Christ proves to you that the intentions of God for your life, if you are in Christ, they are all good.

They have to be all good. If God loved you while you were an enemy, if Christ died for you while you were opposed to Him and dead in sin and living out your rebellion against Him, if the Spirit of God came and applied that blood of Christ to your heart and gave you new life in that time, then while you were an enemy, while you were ungodly, while you were godless, then don't you think now that you've been reconciled to Him that the intentions of God are continuing to be good and sweet now that He has brought you into His family? You see, beloved, the blood of Christ has power to preserve you. Look at Romans 8 with me, Romans chapter 8. It is really essential for you to meditate on this passage and work this out in your heart and mind and put to death the doubts that you have about the goodness of God.

In verse 31, Paul says, What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? In other words, if God has declared us righteous, who is able to reverse His verdict on our behalf?

The implied answer is obviously no one can do that. Christ's blood has accomplished justification on our behalf and secures the preserving power of the Spirit of God in our lives so that we will never be condemned if we are in Christ. And so he goes on in verse 34 and says, Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ?

Will tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword, for the sake of time, skip to verse 37. But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Brothers, sisters in Christ, Christ loved you with an everlasting love. Christ shed His precious blood on your behalf and He did so with a power that cannot be overcome, that cannot be conquered by hostile forces.

He did so with a power that overcomes even your remaining sin and your stumbles. And in His superlative eloquence Charles Spurgeon tells us this, as long as the undimmed eye of Jehovah looks upon the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, he cannot smite one soul that is covered with its scarlet mantle. What can touch me when I am covered with His precious blood? Let me ask you to get there right under the shelter of the cross.

Sit down now beneath the shadow of the cross and feel I am safe you devils of hell. Who shall separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus?" The blood that was shed at the cross has eternal power to preserve those to whom it has been applied. Has it been applied to your soul? Do you have faith in Christ and in Christ alone? Then you have what is necessary not only to save you now but to keep you until you reach glory in heaven.

And nothing can separate you from the love of God which sent Christ in the first place. There's power in the blood. Now secondly, the blood has the power to plead for us.

The blood has the power to plead for us. When Jesus suffered on the cross you will remember that He prayed for those who were inflicting the torment on Him. He said in Luke 23, He prayed for them and He said, Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing. So great is the grace of our Lord. So wonderful is His mercy. So inexhaustible is His kindness that He overlooked their sin against Him and sought mercy from heaven on their behalf. Even while the blood was flowing from His wounded body, He was praying for the ones who inflicted the wounds. This is marvelous grace and it shows forth His willingness to intercede for sinners just like you. And I ask you, my Christian friend, isn't that what the shed blood does for you even now?

Wasn't Christ interceding on your behalf at the cross in order to give mercy to you in your undeserving state? Weren't you a known rebel against Him, especially as you look back afterwards? Don't you remember your coldness of heart toward Him? For some, don't you remember your flagrant rebellion against Him?

You could go down each one of the Ten Commandments and specify ways that you violated each one against Him. Isn't it true that for many of you, you spurned the gospel, you mocked those who tried to bring it to you? You tried to silence them by whatever way you could? You silenced and turned off your ears to listening to loving parents who pleaded with you to come to Christ and turn from your sinful ways? I know some of you have done that. Some of you are probably doing it now.

It's the nature of the human heart. Weren't there times where you mocked the preacher of the gospel? Not talking about me, but people in the ability that God had given them, the opportunity that God had given them, and they pleaded with you, believe in Christ and you shall be saved. Look to the Lamb and be delivered from sin.

Why will you perish? And you hardened your heart against them, hardened your heart against the Word of God, and yet now here you are in a state of grace. In a state of grace because the shed blood of Christ was spilled out for you. He was interceding for you at the cross. He was giving mercy to an undeserving sinner like you on the cross. In some way, in the infinite capacity of his divine mind, in a way I won't pretend to understand, somehow in a way that transcends our ability, somehow as he was hanging on the cross, my friends, he was thinking of you because he took your sins and his body on the cross and paid for them there. Somehow there was a consciousness of you in his mind on the cross as he died as your substitute and for everyone who would ever believe in him.

Well, if he did that then, don't you think the blood pleads for you now that you have been reconciled to him? When you're overwhelmed with discouragement, overwhelmed with a sense of guilt over what you have done or said or thought, when you're overwhelmed with a sense of frustration, you might say, at the coldness that you still have in your heart toward the Lord Jesus, understand that the blood still pleads for you. The one who cried out on the cross, Father, forgive them, his blood makes the same cry now in the throne room of God, all accounts having been settled, the blood of Christ in the throne room of God still says, Father, forgive them. And Spurgeon gives us this perspective, when I cannot pray as I would, how sweet to remember that the blood prays. If I cannot get farther than to say, God, be merciful to me, a sinner, yet my advocate before the throne is not dumb because I am.

His plea has not lost its power simply because my faith happens to diminish. You see, my friends, God deals with you not on the basis of your day-to-day merit, which is never enough. God deals with you on the basis of the shed blood of Christ, which is not enough. We come to Christ and we are received by mercy based on faith in Christ and based on faith in his shed blood on our behalf. We'll understand that it is the blood that saves, it's the blood that sustains and preserves and keeps us and pleads for us before the throne.

And the blood of Jesus, his Son, always avails before our Father in heaven. And so, my friends, rather than making promises to try harder when you failed yet again in the same way again, look fresh to the blood, the Father's eyes as it were. Father, I come to you not in my own eloquence. I come not in my own earnestness. I certainly don't come in my own deserving, Father. I approach you alone on the basis of the merit and the shed blood of your Son.

And because your Son is my advocate, I lay my heart open before you. The blood has power to plead even today, and its power is undiminished 2,000 years later. Think about it this way. Think about the vast power of the blood of Christ. It was saving in the first century as the gospel went out and spread to thousands and thousands throughout the known world at that time. And in the intervening 2,000 years, countless other sinners have been saved as well. Countless other sinners have died and entered into glory based on the power of the shed blood of Christ. And through all of the countless numbers that have been delivered just like that, its power is completely undiminished today.

It's not like a battery that drains down. This is always supercharged to plead on behalf of the people of God, supercharged to plead on your behalf before the throne of your Father. So understand that the intentions of God for your life are good. And understand that whatever your inner feelings about things may be from day to day, understand that the precious blood of Christ gives you free and undiminished access to God and pleads for you and cleanses you before his holy throne. Thirdly, we've seen already the power of the blood to preserve, the power to plead.

Thirdly, we see this. We see the power of the blood to renew us, the power of the blood to renew us. And there's a sense in which this is active in the room even as we're speaking here today, as our hearts are being refreshed and encouraged and strengthened in remembering what our Lord has done for us on our behalf. It has power to renew us. It has power to bring back life and vitality to our dry and withered souls. It's the only place where that refreshing water can be found if the truth be told.

The blood shows forth the saving mercy and love of God. That's Don Green boldly declaring the power of the blood of Jesus Christ. You're listening to The Truth Pulpit, and if you'd like to hear this message again, or if you'd like to find out more about our ministry, go ahead and click on TheTruthPulpit.com.

That's TheTruthPulpit.com. But before we go, here's Don to tell us about a special upcoming event. Well, that's right, Bill. My friend, I want to extend a special invitation to you to join us for a special evening with John MacArthur, Tuesday, May 17, on the campus of Northern Kentucky University, which is just minutes north of downtown Cincinnati. John will be with us live and in person.

There will be wonderful music and warm fellowship with thousands of believers from all over the country. Here's all you need to do to attend. Go to our website by April 30, TruthCommunityChurch.org, and register for your free tickets.

The tickets are no cost to you, but you must register to attend. That's May 17 with John MacArthur. Register by April 30 at our website, TruthCommunityChurch.org. I look forward to seeing you there. Thanks, Don. And friend, that brings our time for today to a close. I'm Bill Wright, and we hope you can join us again next time as Don Green continues teaching God's people God's Word here on the Truth Pulpit.