There is Power in the Blood

John 1 verse number 29. John chapter 1 verse 29. Now, if you were in Sunday school today, uh it this is kind of going to be like part two, but it's it's not technically, but it's going to be kind of like that. And the next day, John seeth Jesus coming unto him and saying, Behold the lamb of God, which taketh away the sin. And somebody say the sin. The sin of the world. The sin of the world. And so today, I'm going to endeavor to take us on a journey. If you will give me just a little latitude. I'm normally a a helicopter preacher. I just kind of go straight up. But I'm going to get a little bit of a runway and then we're going to go somewhere in the spirit over the next few moments of time. But I want to I want to emphatically declare and preach from this thought. There is power in the blood. There is power in the blood. If you believe there's power, would you shout amen?

You may be seated in the house today. When you look at the the word of God and you look at it from Genesis to Revelation, you will see that there is a scarlet thread running through the entire word of God. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible tells this one seamless story that our God, somebody say, "My God, my God, wants to redeem mankind." That's the story. For sin entered into the world in Genesis. We understand the fall of man. We understand the fall that happened in the Garden of Eden between Adam and Eve. in that serpent. And from that moment forward, man or mankind has had a problem. And that problem, human effort could not solve. Adam couldn't fix it. Eve couldn't fix it. Cain couldn't fix it. Abraham couldn't even fix it. Moses couldn't fix it. Listen, the the priest couldn't fix it once a year. the law. God in his best attempt to show us how much he loves us and desires relationship with us. The law couldn't fix it. Animal sacrifices could not permanently fix it. But there was a man. There was and had to be a redeemer. Uh, and before Jesus ever came walking down the dusty roads of Galilee, God had already been revealing his plan. He was given human He was given humanity uh pictures, if you will. They were patterns according to the scripture. They were shadows according to the word of God. They were men that were moved on by the Holy Ghost as they would write and they would give us prophecies, types and shadows. Uh, and every sacrifice was pointing somewhere. Every every priest was pointing somewhere. Uh, every altar was pointing forward to a day and a time. Every drop of blood was pointing us forward. every spotless lamb was pointing somewhere else. Uh every time the high priest would go and enter the holy of holies, uh God was preaching and God was giving us uh the sermon that would live throughout all the ages. Uh one day I'm going to deal with the sin problem once and for all. And then one day, aren't you thankful for that day?

John looked on that shore and he saw Jesus and John didn't say, "Behold the teacher." He didn't say, "Behold the prophet." He didn't say, "Behold a good man. Behold a miracle worker in the making." He didn't say, "Here's the promised child." Or, "Here's the one we've been." No, no, no. He said, "Behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." Finally, all of the shadows, all of the pictures, all of those things that pointed toward this infamous moment that's still that way in the heart of every believer. The lamb had come. Somebody say, "The lamb had come." The redeemer was on sight. God had manifested himself in flesh. The sacrifice, may I say to us today, the supreme sacrifice had arrived. Jesus had came to do what thousands of sacrifices prior could never accomplish.

Before we get to Calvary, I feel like we need to go back and we need to look at what God did for us. Because if you don't understand the pattern, you don't understand and appreciate the fulfillment of the pattern. See, God established a system of sacrifice. Leviticus, you go read Leviticus chapter 16, it teaches us about the day of atonement. Once a year, the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies. He couldn't just casually walk in. He could not just haphazardly go into the presence of the Lord where the mercy seat was and where God would commune with man. No, no, no. That high priest had to be prepared. That that high priest had to carry blood with him. That high priest had to carry a resemblance and an emblem of sacrifice. And it just couldn't be how the high priest wanted to do it. It was a prescribed way. It was it was ordered by God in a manner. But here's what stood out to me. The high priest had to offer a sacrifice for himself first. Then sacrifices were offered for the sins of the people. For the blood of animals was taken into the presence of God. And there on the mercy seat, there was the mercy seat. There was an altar. There was a scapegoat. And go read this afternoon Leviticus 16. There was a scapegoat that was led into the wilderness uh by a fit man uh who would carry the indignation uh and the sin of people into a far country. There was blood. There was separation. There was that atonement. And it was all telling us something that I think we lose consciousness of. And that is this fact. Sin is serious. Amen. Sin is something that God just doesn't overlook. Sin is what separated God and man. And sin still separates God and man. Sin still corrupts and still it destroys and it does bring death. And Paul would write in Romans chapter 6, for the wages of sin is death. You see, sin created a a debt that nobody in this room could pay. That's right. That's right. Humanity needed redemption. Humanity needed a man that would come and it needed blood to redeem us. And here we go through the journey of a lamb. And once a year and then the priest, the priest would stand before God and the people we're going somewhere. He represented the people before God and the priest himself being a sinner. But he had to offer a sacrifice for himself before he could minister for others. He wasn't perfect. He could he there was no way he could permanently solve the problem. But when I saw this in scripture last night, as I began to look at the office of the priest, the priest was nothing merely more than a picture. Jesus would become the perfect high priest. Hebrews 4:15 says, "In all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin, Jesus did not need a sacrifice for himself. Uh he was the sacrifice. Uh the priest had to bring blood from an animal. But what did Jesus do? He brought his own blood to that all rugged cross. Uh the priest entered year after year. But I stand on this Sunday to tell you that Jesus entered once. He entered once. The priest of all would die and remain dead. But the high priest I'm preaching about this morning, yes, he died, but he rose again victorious over death, held in the grave. We don't serve a dead god sanctuary. We don't proclaim a dead god that's still in a borrowed tomb. But I stand on a Sunday to tell you that the lamb is alive. [applause and cheering] I said the lamb is alive. He's not dead. What you couldn't do, he did it for you. I said what you could not pay, he paid. Brother Daniel, the blood that we have flowing freely in our veins, he shed his for us when Okay, Sunday school class, I'm going back to the lamb. The lamb was the central part of Israel's story. I talked about it today in in a fashion, but I want you to go back and think about the Passover. God told Israel, "Take a lamb." Amen. And a lamb had to meet the the specific requirements. Okay, you're going to go get a lamb. It's going to be spotless. You're going to you're going to check this lamb out.

It can't have a spot nor a blemish. I don't know if you've ever tried to do that on any animal. That's near impossible to do. Yes, it is. But once they found that perfect lamb, it had to be separated from the fold. It had to be fed. It had to be nurtured. It had to be cared for with all the knowledge. They they they had to embrace the knowledge that this lamb had to die. And it would be from that blood. it would be applied to the doorpost and the lentil. We're talking about Passover when when the children of Israel were getting ready to get up out of Egypt. And I feel some of you right now, God's getting ready to escort some of you out of Egypt and what you've been going through in the situations of life. But remember, I'm talking patterns and pictures, and I'm talking about foreshadowing of things to come right now. When judgment and the death angel would come to Egypt, all they had to do was kill the spotless lamb, put the blood on the doorpost, and be inside the house when the death angel come by. [applause and cheering] And here was the promise. When I come through, when I come down your street, when I come by your address, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Israel wasn't protected because they were better than Egypt. They were protected because uh the blood had been applied. They were protected because they had went to the effort and prepared themselves and their home. Let me just tell you, it's not enough to have it. It It's not enough for it just to be talked about, but it's got to get in you and it's got to get in your house. We can't just come on a Sunday and shout about the blood. I've got to leave today knowing that the blood has been applied. The blood is on the doors. It's on my heart. There's power in the blood. That's the message of redemption. I'm going I I said I'm going to take a lot of pressure off of you. Take a deep breath. You don't get saved because you're good enough. That's right. You're not saved because you grew up in church.

You don't get saved because your grandfather or grandmother did this or that. You don't get saved because you got caught in sin. That's right. Come on. I need my help up in this house. Let me tell every one of us in this room, you need the blood. I need the blood. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. We can talk about everything, but let me just tell somebody we need the blood. When you get saved, there should be the spiritual blood of Christ out of gratitude. Thank you for the blood. We can't do it without the blood. We won't go to the New Jerusalem without the blood. We won't see the lamb of God without the blood. Oh, catch a second wind. We're marching through the Old Testament. Thousands of years later, John sees Jesus and declares, "Behold the lamb." We We know about that lamb. We've read it in the Torah. We've read the power of the blood that got our kindred out of Egypt into the promised land. It got us out of Egypt, from the wilderness to the promised land. And now we are face to face with the lamb. Come on. And John was beginning to connect in their hearts and their minds Jesus is the lamb. Oh, thank you, [sighs and gasps] Lord. [panting] And I'm going to connect John. John, what? Here's what I want you to do. I want you to connect me to every lamb that Israel had ever slain. You hear me today in the Holy Ghost? That little lamb they would slay in Egypt was pointing toward Jesus. That little lamb they cared for and fed and nurtured and prepared and placed on an altar was pointing to Jesus. The sacrifice on the day of atonement was pointing toward the words of Isaiah where he would utter the prophetic. He has brought as a lamb to the slaughter. Go read the word of God. Isaiah was pointing to Jesus. Peter was pointing to the redeemed when he said with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Peter was saying, "There's coming a lamb that is spotless and who will pay the price forever, once and for all."

When you roll forward to the book of Revelation and we find John, John writing on the aisle of Patmas and John on in the spirit on the Lord's day. I'm so glad it's the same God that would move on John that would move in the Old Testament and speak to Moses and give the law and get the same God. He changeth not. [applause and cheering] And John would write as he would be moved on. I saw a throne and he sees worship. He sees a book sealed with seven seals. Nobody is worthy to open it. They look around and there's nobody to open the book and there's nobody. And John would begin to weep and then one of the elders would utter these words wise beyond his years because he would bring revelation to the story. He said to John, then one of the elders says, "Behold the line of the tribe of Judah. And if you can look with me this morning, the elder looked and saw a lion of the tribe of Judah. But John would turn expecting to see a lion. But what does he see? The Bible says he saw a lamb, a lamb that had been slain. The whole Bible has been pointing to this defined moment. He can open the book. Not necessarily, yes, he was the lion of the tribe of Judah, but what could make him qualified to open the book was nothing less than him being the lamb that would take away the sins of the world. The lamb was qualified because he shed his innocent blood for us. Hallelujah.

In Leviticus 17:11, we find the blood represented life. It said, "For the life of the flesh is in the blood." What God was trying to teach the Israelites was that sin required a payment. Sin required a payment. That's right. There must be a substitute. The sinner must die. But but hold on. God said, "No, I'm going to allow a spotless animal to die in the sinner's place." I'm going to say, "That's substitution." It would be like if I'm the one that's supposed to die today and someone an an animal were to take my place or even someone else, it would be a substitute. Yeah. Something in innocent dies goes free while the something innocent dies where the guilty gets to live. Yes, sir. Oh, that's what happened at Calvary. Jesus was not dying on that rugged cross because he was guilty. No, he was not. Don't you be mistaken today. He was dying because we were guilty. He didn't die on that cross because he deserved it. He was dying on that cross because we deserved it. He didn't He didn't get those thorns on his head because he deserved it. He got them because we deserved it. Every stripe on his back. Oh, he didn't deserve that. We did. But Jesus, he said, "You know what? I am going to take the sin of the world. I'm going to be I'm going to be, if you will, the substitute. I'm going to be the redeemer." He stepped into our place. And Isaiah would write, "But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. Somebody say, "He took my place." Come on, somebody. He took my place. He took my place. And he became our substitute. Aren't you thankful? He became your substitute. The high priest would enter the holy of holies. Blood was offered. Sin was dealt with ceremonially, but the sacrifice, hear me today, in the Holy Ghost had to be repeated. Every year. Somebody say, "Every year." Every year. Why did it have to be every year? Because the blood of bulls and goats could never permanently remove sin. So every year they had to drag those animals. Every year a price had to be paid. But Hebrews would give us hope today. Hebrews 10:4, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Brother Cruz, it was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away our sins. [panting] They could cover, but they couldn't take away. [panting] They could roll them forward. They could foreshadow. They could give us hope of a better tomorrow. But they could never permanently redeem sins. Why? Because an I know I hate to tell some of you animal lovers in here, but an animal isn't equal with the human soul. I know we all think all dogs go to heaven, but I hope they are there. Let's just say that. [panting] There was a needed perfect sacrifice. There was a needed perfect man. There needed to be somebody who would stand in our place. Who's going to take my place? Brother Christian, who who's worthy to do that? who's worthy to stand on your behalf and take your sins. That's why Jesus came. It's more than a Christmas story. It's more than just giving gifts at the holidays and, you know, celebrating. He came. Oh, we need to get We need to remember the real reason.

And I know it's just August, but we need to go ahead and start remembering the real reason why he came. That's right. Because Hebrews 10:11 said, "And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering often time," you ready for this? The same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But I want you to look at this. The priest would stand every day, but Jesus would sit down. You may say, "Why?" Because the work was finished on Calvary. The priest kept offering, but Jesus offered one sacrifice. that that sacrifice of the priest was just a temporary uh that was a temporary band-aid uh on the sin solution. But when Jesus showed up, his sacrifice would become the eternal price for our sins. The priest dealt in ceremony. But Jesus said, "I'm not dealing with your ceremonial laws. Uh I've come to deal with the conscience of manuh and give them a clear and clean conscience." I I I know the priest you you you want to deal with the outward, but Jesus, I'm coming to deal with the heart of man, I've come to be and accomplish redemption. But this man, Hebrews 10:12, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down. He said, "This job's over. I've done it. I I I I my job's complete here. I came I rode myself in flesh. I walked among men. I showed myself alive after they put me in a tomb. I have revealed who I am to my disciples and to those that would believe me. I have commissioned them to go to the upper room until they be endued with power from on high. You know what I think I'm going to do? I'm just going to sit down and watch my body work. Watch my people embrace why I came. Hallelujah. Oh, [panting] it is finished. Some people look at that cross and they don't understand and they don't believe and they say, "Oh, why did Jesus have to boy that was why he had to go to a cross?" I read this somewhere. The cross wasn't a tragedy. It was a transaction. I said the cross wasn't a tragedy. It was a transaction. Yes, it was. what you couldn't do on your own. Jesus said, "I'm going to show you." Yeah. Satan thought he had won and hell thought it had won. Death thought it had won. But I've come to let somebody know early on that Sunday morning, that's when we celebrate his resurrection. Early on that morning, the lamb got up. The lamb they had watched die on that tree and put in that tomb. He got up. He got up. [panting] And I've come to just let somebody know today because he got up, you can get up. Because he shed his blood, you don't have to shed your blood. They just sang about it. When Jesus died, the veil was torn. When Jesus died, the veil What does that mean to me? God was saying to everyone in this room, "The way to me is open. It's like a highway. You don't have to beg me. You don't have to borrow from me. I've given my life freely so you can have your life back freely. [panting] The veil was ripped. It was torn. You don't have to stand on the outside. The ways open. The doorways are open. The altar's open. The waters of baptism are open. If you could hear what the spirit and the bride say, "Come." The lamb is made a way. I said, "The lamb is made a way."

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest, Hebrews 10:19, by the blood of Jesus. I know I've been preaching now for almost 40 minutes, maybe 35. The blood opened the doorway. I said the blood opened the doorway. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, today I want to tell you in the spirit that if you've never repented of your sins, you've never been baptized in Jesus' name. You never received the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Let me just tell you what it means to redeem something. Redeem means to buy back, to recover, to release, to rescue from bondage. If you were to think about someone who had been held in captivity that had no way to purchase their freedom, they were trapped. They may have filled owned by the circumstances because they could not free themselves. I've come to let somebody know, this world may have shackled you with chains. This world may have convinced you that the way you are living is the way things always will be. But I've got a word today in this househ. I've got a word in the Holy Ghost that the blood the blood I said the blood is walking in this househ. The blood is speaking in this room. You don't have to leave the same way you came. The blood says come. Come let me redeem. Let me redeem you with my blood. You don't have to do it, sis. You don't have to do it. He did it. Well, I'm waiting till I I'm going to wait till I get my ducks in a row. I'm going to wait. No, you ain't never going to get them in a row. I'm going to wait till I get my life together. I'm going to wait till No, no, no. Bring your addiction to the blood. Bring your problems to the blood. Bring your anxiety to the blood. Bring your worries to the blood. I stand before you as bold as a lion with the lamb on my side. There is nothing that the blood can't forgive. There is nothing that the blood can't redeem. That's right. Bless you, Lord. I just wished we believe that because we walk through life with guilt and condemnation over what we've done. Yeah. What we should have done if I had done this. If I had done that. If I would have said that. And we walk with guilt and shame. Despondency. We take something to go to sleep. We take something to wake up. We can't function a real life because of all the past and all the sin and all the shame. But I've got hope today. I said I've got hope. It does not matter what you bring to the blood when the blood touches it, when the blood gets a hold of it. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Bless. Sin may have bound you. Sin may enslave. Sin may have caused you to condemn yourself. When you couldn't buy yourself, Jesus paid it all. I don't care how much money you got in the bank. You couldn't pay the price tag of sin. Musicians come. I don't care what your status in this life and society is. You don't have enough in reserve to handle the sin problem. That's why one man That's why one man, the man Christ Jesus said, "You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to take care of this. I'm going to be the remedy. I'm going to redeem them so they don't have to. I love them too much for them to struggle in sin. I've wanted a relationship with my people all the way back to when I formed and created them out of the dust of the earth. I've wanted relationship. I wanted to dwell among them in my tabernacle. I wanted to dwell among them. So I built I instructed Moses, just build me a tent. Just build me a tent so I can just come and visit. just build me something because I'm hungry for relationship. He didn't build walls of Jaspers and street of gold and uh he didn't do that to start with. He just said, "Build me a tent. Just build me a tent of gathering. Build me a sanctuary." That wasn't good enough. The sin problem just kept growing. And the sin epidemic and pandemic kept growing. And he said, "I guess if I'm ever going to have relationship with my people, I can't just be among them. I got to get with them." So he said, "You know what I'm going to do? I'm going, John, write this. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld the glory. You beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth. So the God that was among became the God with. He had to get with us so he could redeem us. It's hard to just redeem something just being among. You got to get in the middle of what's going on.

You got to get them in the middle of them so you feel what they felt. That's right. You feel the sin that they've struggled with in all points. He was tempted. What you're tempted with today, just go ahead and take inventory. No, he was tempted. He was. Yes, he was. What you're struggling with today, he already fought that battle and won. Yes, he did. what you're what you're dealing with in your mind and the oppression and the depression and all of the conflicting thoughts and even imaginations. He's already done it because he wasn't only among us. He became God with us. But in the progression of time, among and with, he had to get with us to redeem us. But to save us, he had to come and live within us. He loves us so much. And the blood and the blood is so powerful. The blood that never has lost its power is saying to the church, to the saint and the sinner, "The veil is torn, the way is open. Come and drink from the waters that I give freely." Lord have mercy. He looked at the lady on at the well and said, "You drink of this water, you're going to thirst again." It's kind of like a good cup of coffee, Brother David. You going You going to want another one and you going to want another one. David's been to our coffee shop from the first day until today. He's been You know why? You get thirsty for a good cup of coffee, you'll find it. That's right. You gonna keep tomorrow morning. He's gonna thirst and we going we're going to come get a coffee. But if you ever drink from the well that Jesus has the sins you thought you could never live without, you discover a Jesus that you can never live without. He takes the sins. He deals with that sins. He puts something in you that you couldn't put in yourself. He said, "I I I've been among you. I've been with you. And now I'm dwelling in you by my spirit." The way you the way the blood is applied, it was as though they slayed the animal. They would take that lamb and they would kill the lamb. They would take the blood from that lamb and they would apply the blood at the altar.

When you come to this oldfashioned altar and you repent of your sins or you stay where you're seated and you just in your own way lift your hands, lift your head. There's no need to repent like this because if you repent with your head low, you're not expecting very much. Nothing much comes from here. But when you lift your head up, Yeah. and you begin to repent of all your sins, you acknowledge where your hope and help's coming from is not here, but it's coming from up up there. And when you say, "God, I'm sorry for my sins. I confess with my mouth, I am a sinner. I I ask that you forgive me of my sins." I'm going to tell you what he does. I believe the the throne he sits on, he stands to attention and says, "There's another one." Come on, angel band. Strike up a chord. Come on, angels. Y'all get y'all y'all come over here. There's another one at 1149 Main Street that just repented of their sins. And when you repent of your sins, that's the death to this old man. It's making a commitment. You know what? From this day forward, I'm going to serve the Lord to the best of my ability. Not in my own power, but by the power that's going to dwell and live inside of me. Repentance is death. Waters of baptism in the name of Jesus is burial. The blood is applied through the waters. We're buried with him in baptism. And when you go down in that water like Jesus did and Jesus instructed his disciples and you find the biblical proof throughout the whole book of Acts, they would lay hands, they would receive the Holy Ghost, they would be baptized or they would be baptized, laid hands on and received the Holy Ghost. You will see it numerous times when they come out of that those sins that you carried in the water. When I bury you in Jesus' name and you come out, all of those sins are washed away, never to be remembered again. You talking about a clear and a clean conscience, knowing I've got my sin problem dealt with. I've allowed the blood to have its perfect work in my life.

Following the death, the burial of Jesus, following the repentance and water baptism in Jesus' name, he doesn't leave you the way he finds you. He leaves us with a promise. You shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. His spirit comes inside of you. Let me give you hope today. It's not another spirit. It's the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead. The same spirit that got that got Jesus up out of that grave is going to now dwell inside of you. And you're talking about power to walk in this present world looking for a day to come. He leaves us with this promise. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. I don't want to go home the same way that I came. I don't want to go back to my home and it be the same. Oh, but when I walk through that door this afternoon, I want it to be a new life. I want it to be a new outlook on life. Those things I couldn't fix. With the help of God, I'm going to fix now. Some of you are beating you up. You You beat yourself up this morning. Even say, "I've been such a horrible mom. I've been such a horrible dad. I've done so many horrible things." You've come to the place today in this house where yes, you may have done some things and you're really beating yourself up today, but all it takes is one drop of blood. One drop of this powerful blood, it can wash away your sins. It can make you whole. It can make all things new. It can put restoration in motion. It can bring relationships back together. It can bring families. It can bring children. There's nothing that our God cannot do stand all over this house. I don't know who needed to hear what I preached, but I did today. I don't need I don't know who needed to be reminded, but I know there's more than one, two, or three. And before we make an early exit out of this house, I just wish we would come to this altar and begin to if if you don't do anything but just thank God for the blood. I think you will acknowledge that our salvation, our hope is because of the blood. Maybe you want to start the journey of the rest of your life by saying, "Pastor, I want to be buried in Jesus name. I want to be baptized today. I'm ready for my I'm ready for my future." We've got robes. We've got towels. We've got everything you need to take the waters of baptism. You can do it today. The door is open. The doorway is open. and access has been given. Step through and experience what real life is all about. Experience what real joy is. Experience what hope is. Heat. Heat. Nothing but the That's it. That's it. That's it. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Lord, thank you for becoming what we could not. Thank you for preparing a place for us if we will if we'll choose you to be our Lord and our Savior and walk in obedience following the plan that you have laid. God, I know you're soon coming. Lord, the the signs of the time are are everywhere. I pray today as we conclude a service, there's no way to dismiss what we have felt. I pray God that you would bring back to our remembrance this week just the wonder of the power of the blood. The wonder of it. The reason of it. The reason you redeemed. The reason you loved us so much was to save us from our sins. Now today, go with us. Go with us from this this place. But God, please keep your angels of protection around us. Bring us back at the appointed time. I give you glory, praise, and honor. Thank you for opening the way. Thank you for opening the door to everlasting life through the wonderful redemptive work at Calvary. The blood. May we never forget it. May we always cherish it in the name of Jesus we pray. And everybody say, "Amen." Amen. If you receive something today from the Lord, would you just clap your hands one more time?