Sunday Sermon: The cleansing Power of the Blood of Jesus

Sunday Sermon at The Grateful Church (UPCI) in Phoenix

The Cleaning Power of the Blood of Jesus

Heb 10: 1-22

The appeal to come to Jesus boldly, infers to the injuries to our conscience of guilt and shame that is associated with sin. This unhealthy relationship with Christ makes it difficult to come to Christ. Jesus settled these issues through His atoning blood to:

1. Permanently open a new and living way to the Holy of Hollies and do away with the yearly sacrifice of bulls and goats to gain access.

2. Removed and eradicated sin so that our past has no bearing on our future.

3. Permanently establish an eternal high priest seated in the heavenlies, so that there is no more need for transit priesthood.

Permanent New and Living Way:

The veil of the temple (a shadow of the flesh of Jesus) that hides the glory of the Holy of the Hollies was torn to never be rehung, indicating that access to the Holy of Hollies is forevermore open. The live blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross provides an access through baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, which was not open to people in the Old Testament. The way is new and permanent because:

1. Jesus’ blood is forever fresh; not stale, or old, it never loses it power or potency, though it has been over 2000 years old. We are covered and justified by the blood as we enter the holy presence of God. Unlike the OT priests, who could not rely on blood of bulls and goats, thus enter with fear and trembling. The atonement is always fresh to a believer as if Jesus has just bore our sin, sickness, and disease – Mark 16:17-18

2. Our sins, sickness, and disease cannot be in two places at the same time. The atoning blood of Jesus offers a complete forgiveness, where God remembers our sins no more, so that our pass will have no more bearing on our present and future dealings. When Jesus took our sins, and bore out sickness and disease upon Himself, our sins remained no longer upon us who believe because sin could not be in two places at the same time.

Removed and eradicated sin:

The remission of our sin made us just, perfect, sanctified, separated from sin unto Jesus Christ.

1. We become perfect in Christ from the guilt and shame of sin as opposed to character -Heb 10:14. Our ascension to this truth leads us to triumph over sin, sickness, and diseases to be free and made whole.

2. When sin is permanently remitted, Christ does not need to die again for new sins we commit. This is why the old practice of animal sacrifice was no longer necessary. Through repentance and baptism in Jesus’ name our sins are removed as we approach the Holy presence of God

Permanent and eternal High Priest:

God found a body in Jesus Christ to reconcile the word to God – 2 corint 5:19, through death on the cross, a declaration He made clear in the Garden of Gethsemane – Lk 22:39-44. After offering His body on the cross, He rose and sat down at the right hand of God, signifying that the work was finished, but the OT priest who did their animal sacrifices yearly and never sat down or seized from their duty - Heb 10:17-18.

Moreover, the animal sacrifices of bulls and goats were a shadow of Christ, incomplete, insufficient, and inadequate to perfectly remove sins. A shadow is not an image, picture, or photograph incapable of communicating the substance. So, Jesus:

1. Established a new and permanent way because the old was ineffective to eradicate sin.

2. Establish a new living way with life more abundantly because we had no life under the bondage of sin and death.

Altar call:

It is an open season to purge our conscience and our body washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. Heb 10:22.

For He says: “In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation – 2 Corint. 6:2

Like Jesus Christ, to draw near to God is an act of the human will and the aim of every believer – Mark 16:16; Act 2:37-28. We are drawn near to God through Baptism in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Have you been baptized in Jesus name?