I Have The Receipt: Purchased with the Blood of Jesus

Faith is more than a feeling or a theory. It's

a decision that moves your feet, opens your hands,

and activates God's promises. In our brand new

book, Faith Act, Jeffrey and I take you on a

powerful journey through some of Scripture's

most transforming moments, where ordinary people

dared to obey and saw heaven move on their behalf.

Order your copy of Faith Act today on Amazon.

Today we're starting a brand new series. Some

of you saw the post online, but the title of

the series is, I Have the Receipt. I Have the

Receipt. Right. Well, if you got a receipt, that

means that you've paid for it, or it has been

paid for. So, does anybody have a, does anyone

have a BJ's membership? or a Costco membership.

If you've never been to BJ's or Costco, you might

not know what I'm about to say. You might not

have experienced this, but when you go to those

wholesale clubs, and especially if you do self

-checkout, but even if you go through the register

and everything, you have to hold on to your receipt.

Look at the person beside you and say, hold on

to your receipt. The reason why you have to hold

on to the receipt is because after you finish,

checking out and you go to the door to leave

the store there's someone standing there and

they want your receipt and they take your receipt

i don't know about everywhere i mean you know

at costco they don't always but down here at

this bj's in davenport they're going to look

at every single item in your shopping cart they're

going to count them and like this was from Friday,

we bought 10 items. So the guy at the door had

to see all 10 items, and he looked to make sure

it was the correct receipt, and then he signed

off on it. He put a little scribble on there.

That can't be his name. Maybe an initial or something.

But here's the deal. You can't get out of the

store with a buggy with items in it unless you

have your receipt. I mean, you can leave, but

the buggy can't leave. Right? Because they're

going to check and make sure that you paid for

it. But when you have the receipt, that means

it's yours. Even if you get questioned, it's

yours. Has anyone ever walked out of a store

and had a little alarm went off? Because the

cashier forgot to take off the little thing to

make the alarm go off. And you better have your

receipt if you want to leave with that item.

Right? You better have it. to make sure that

it's been purchased, to make sure that it's been

paid for. Everybody say, I have the receipt.

I have the receipt. Now this series will help

each one of us. It'll help us to be more established.

Hopefully we are established to a degree, but

I believe this series will help us become more

established. And one of the most central truths

of the Christian faith. And that's this. What

was accomplished through the blood of Jesus?

What is provided through the blood of Jesus?

So, what did Jesus purchase? Not with a credit

card, but with his blood. What did he purchase

to accomplish something for you and for me, to

provide something for you and for me? What did

he purchase with his blood? Here's the deal.

I walked out of BJ's and I have the receipt.

Well, Jesus walked out of the empty tomb and

he had the receipt. But he didn't hang on to

the receipt because he's not going to need it

where he was going. He gave it to us. So we have

the receipt. God's Word contains what we could

call a detailed receipt of what Jesus purchased

with his blood. Now, the blood of Jesus. is not

just an illustration. You know, sometimes in

church we've got illustrations. Like our stained

glass window last week was an illustration, the

light coming through it was an illustration of

the glory of God. Right? But the blood is not

just an illustration. It's not just symbolic

religious verbiage. The blood is a covenant reality.

Jesus' blood is full of spiritual power and what

he accomplished for us. Now, this is probably

the verse I've known the longest about the blood

of Jesus. Maybe it is for you too. But as an

evangelist on the road for 20 years, I quoted

this almost every time I preached. Without the

shedding of blood, There is no forgiveness. So

the blood is not just an illustration. And some

people are like, are we really going to talk

about blood? Yeah, we're going to talk about

blood for eight weeks. So listen, because it's

more than forgiveness. But without the shedding

of Jesus' blood on the cross, you and I would

be hopelessly and helplessly lost. He died for

us. He died in our place on the cross. He shed

his blood for us. And the Bible says he took

that blood. He took that blood into the holy

of holies, not the earthly one, but the heavenly

one. And put it on the mercy seat in heaven.

That ought to make you smile at least. Because

he did it for you. Did it for you. Without him

shedding his blood, there's no possible way that

we could be forgiven. But salvation is more than

forgiveness. Sometimes people think that salvation

is it. Forgiveness is it. If it was, that'd be

good, right? That'd be good. But... Just like

in the last series, when Jeffrey and I started

studying to prepare this series, I mean, we're

just finding verses all over the place that we've

probably read before, but they never really stood

out before. Just like we saw verses that contained

glory, and we would just read through that like

it was a filler word, like the word glory was

just a filler word. But it's not. It's not. So

salvation is more than forgiveness. Today we're

going to talk about the blood of Jesus being

a purchase. Not just purchasing our forgiveness,

but purchasing us. Hello? The cross was not merely

suffering. It was a transaction. There's a transaction

that took place. The blood was and is the price

of redemption. Ownership changed hands because

of the blood. The blood of Jesus is the purchase

price that redeemed believers out of darkness.

See, before Christ, we were children of darkness.

So the blood of Jesus redeemed us, purchased

us out of darkness. What else did it do? It transformed

us into the kingdom of God. And it established

our identity as God's very own possession. It's

more than forgiveness. It's a purchase. 1 Corinthians

6, 19 and 20 says this, Don't you realize? This

is for those who are in Christ. Don't you realize

that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?

We use this verse in our series about the glory

because, you know, the glory of God moved out

of the Holy of Holies and moved into us. We display

the glory of God. The glory of God is displayed

among His people because He no longer is in a

temple. Made by men's hands. You are the temple.

Don't you realize that your body is a temple

of the Holy Spirit who lives in you and was given

to you by God. Now listen, you do not belong

to yourself. Why don't you belong to yourself

anymore? When you come to Christ, you don't belong

to yourself. I mean, how long after I came to

Christ was it until I realized that I didn't

belong to myself anymore? Can anybody witness

to that? I mean, you come to Christ and it's

like, I still think I belong to myself. You might

be sitting in this room today and you might be

living your life like you belong to yourself.

Not during church time, but... Monday through

Friday or Saturday or whatever. We can still

live our lives like we belong to ourselves. Y

'all quit smiling when I said that. But we do

not belong to ourselves. Why? Because God bought

us with a very high price. God bought you with

a high price. So you must honor God with your

body, with your life. You honor God. That's just,

that's the response, right? If I'm his, shouldn't

I honor him with my life? If I acknowledge that

I'm his? I should be honoring him. Look at the

person beside you and say, we're just getting

started. See, this passage is not based on emotional

spirituality. It's based on a covenant fact.

The believer belongs to God by purchase. So my

receipt says, I've been bought. I've got that

receipt. I've been bought. I belong to God. The

cross was a purchase. Everybody say that with

me. The cross was a purchase. 1 Peter 1 .18 says

this. For you know that God paid a ransom. Get

this. Let this sink in. You know, we should know

that God paid a ransom to save us from the empty

life we inherited from our ancestors. Has that

verse ever spoke to you like that before? You

know that God paid a ransom. And he paid a ransom

to save you from the empty life you inherited

from your ancestors. Because we were all born

in sin. We were all born children of this dark

world. Right? And when God bought you, it was

not that he just said, oh, I'll just speak and

create some gold and some silver. Since he spoke

it all into existence anyway. He didn't say,

well, I'll just make some more gold and silver

and that'll be the price that I'll pay for all

these people. Your redemption could not be paid

for with silver or gold. It was not paid with

mere gold, just mere gold. Or silver. Because

they all lose their value. They've been gaining

here recently, but if you would have bought earlier

this week, you would have lost your shirt. Because

it plummeted back down, right? What were you

purchased with? It was the precious blood of

Christ. The sinless, spotless Lamb of God. That's

what you were bought with. Not just any old blood.

Sinless, spotless blood. The blood of God himself.

The blood of Christ shed for you. Paid a ransom.

There's a Greek word, lutroo. I'll just say it

like that. You can say it however you want to.

Here's what it means to redeem, to ransom, or

to liberate, to set free. To redeem, to ransom,

to liberate. You can't carry this illustration

to the extreme, but one way you can look at it

is if you had an item and you needed some money

and you went to the pawn shop. Has anybody ever

been to a pawn shop before? You've been to the

pawn shop to say, okay, you want to sell it or

you want to pawn it? I hope to get it back, so

just give me $100 and then I'll come get my $140

and buy it back next week or whatever. But they

give you a redemption ticket. They hold on to

it until you come back and the agreement. of

the redemption. Like I said, the illustration

definitely doesn't carry all the way through,

right? But it's a purchase. But it's not just

a purchase of something that should not belong

to you. It's a purchase to bring it back, to

liberate it, and to bring it back to yourself.

God created us. Hello? God created us. And in

the Garden of Eden, we handed over authority

to the enemy. God had given us authority in this

world. We handed it over to the enemy. It's not

like God pawned us off. We pawned ourselves off.

And redemption is God saying, I made you. You're

mine. I know now you're a child of darkness.

under the control of the enemy, but I'm going

to die on the cross and purchase you back with

my blood. Here's where it helps. Redeemed to

release, to set free, by paying the full ransom,

to release on receipt, Everybody say, I've got

that receipt. To release on receipt of ransom.

To restore something back into the possession

of its rightful owner. Rescuing from the power

and possession of an alien possessor. I really

like that one. Rescuing from the power. and the

possession of somebody who shouldn't be your

owner anyway. So redeemed carries the meaning

of being purchased or bought back with a payment.

So Christianity, unlike all the other religions

of the world, is not just kind of a religious

self -improvement with good teachings. I mean,

come on, let's be honest. All religions have

some good teachings trying to help people morally,

right? All of them do, to some extent. But that's

not what Christianity is. Christianity is not

self -improvement, even though there's been a

change in my life, hopefully a change in your

life, but that's not the foundation of what it's

all about. It's about deliverance through a price.

It's about redemption. I'm about to preach myself

happy. We're not purchased with silver or gold,

but with the precious blood of Christ. We weren't

just helped. We were purchased. Let that sink

in. We're not just helped. We're purchased. So

we belong to somebody. And they had a receipt

and gave it to us. The blood is heaven's proof

and the basis of our standing, the basis of a

believer's standing in Christ. Faith rests on

the covenant act of Christ, not on our personal

performance. And listen, that's the way it began.

And that's the way it continues. Jesus didn't

buy you with his blood so that you would be back

under the bondage of a rule system. That if you

broke the rules or didn't do everything exactly

right, then you're good for nothing anymore.

That's not the way it works. Our faith is in

the blood of Christ. That covenant act. We entered

into a covenant with Christ. It's not based on

our personal performance. Even though most religious

experience tries to turn you back into self -righteousness.

In order to be in right standing with God. Hebrews

9, 12 says this, with his own blood, not the

blood of goats or calves, because that's Old

Testament. That's Old Covenant. They would sacrifice

goats and calves and doves and different things

to try to, you know, cover. Everybody say cover.

To cover. the sin. So it's not with the blood

of goats and calves because they were just temporary

and they were just symbolic of what was coming.

With his own blood, Jesus entered the most holy

place one time. Everybody say one time. Once

and for all. Once for all time. And secured our

redemption forever. One time. Secured our redemption

forever. So it's an eternal redemption. It's

a complete redemption. It's not a partial payment.

It's not an ongoing debt that Jesus has to keep

going back to the cross and dying more and more

and more and more. No, it's one and done. It's

not an ongoing debt. It's not an unfinished work.

He even said on the cross, it is finished. It

is finished. So as followers of Christ, we shouldn't

live under an uncertainty, a religious uncertainty.

We need to live under this covenant certainty,

not an uncertainty anymore. Redemption means

that all old claims are broken. Let that sink

in. All old claims are broken. There used to

be some claims, some spiritual claims against

us. Now they're all broken. Purchase implies

that there was a prior bondage before Christ.

And there was a bondage before Christ. We should

be able to see it. We should be able to agree

with it. Right? Before Christ, we were under

sin. We were in sin before we could become in

Christ. We were under sin. We were under darkness.

We were under condemnation before Christ. And

the sad thing is, Some of us have remained under

condemnation after we're in Christ. Who spent

some time under condemnation after you were in

Christ? You spent some time still under condemnation.

Still under sin. Still fooling around and dealing

with darkness. Anybody but me. But we didn't

have to be. Didn't have to be. We didn't have

to be. Colossians 1 .13. For Jesus. No, I'm sorry.

For God. He, God, has rescued us. We could say

the Father in this sense. For the Father has

rescued us from the kingdom of darkness. Look

at the person beside you and tell them, I've

been rescued. I've been rescued. He has rescued

us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred

us into the kingdom of his dear son, into the

kingdom of Jesus. Because Jesus is the one who

purchased our freedom and forgave our sins. You've

got to know this. The kingdom of darkness has

no authority or power over you. So if you live

under that mentality, it's time to break that

off. It's time to break it off. I'm going to

tell Jeffrey's story. I don't know, you might

need to tell it because I might not remember

it all, but you were at work. And was it a blanket

or something? What was it? Yeah. It was a blanket.

And somebody had like been fired or something

or something went down. So they left this blanket

and said that they put a curse on it. And the

leadership, the proprietor, I mean, like the

head leadership in his department, they're just

like freaked out. Yeah. There you go. Wait a

minute. You need to say this. People online can't

hear you. So. Every time someone tried to take

it home because the proprietor left, went to

a different line of business. But when the proprietor

left, she left it. And then, you know, several

other leaders were like, well, I'll take it home.

I'll put it on my bed. It looks nice. But every

single time someone tried to, like, take it,

they'd get a speeding ticket. One got into an

accident. One, like, got sick the week that they

brought it home. And they were just certain that,

like, it was this object. Yeah. Do you want to

continue? I can tell it. Okay. You can tell it.

I don't care. But you need to stand up here if

you're going to tell it so people online can

see it. Anyway, so Jeffrey, being the assistant

pastor, the first question was, were they asking

for holy water? They asked if you were a priest.

If you did exorcisms on items, if you're a priest

and you do exorcism, you come up here and tell

it. Come up here and tell it. I'm trying. I'm

not trying to drag it out. So, yeah, so they

asked me, they were like, do you do exorcisms

at your church or your, you know, do you? perform

them or just your dad or, you know, they had

it all like built this whole case in their head.

And so I, if you need it, we'll do it. And I

just said. I just said, well, what is happening?

Because at this point, I didn't know what they

were even talking about. Like, literally, I was

just working, you know, my normal job, and then

they bring you down to the leader's office, right?

You don't know, like, what's happening? Am I

in trouble? And then they're just like, the first

question is, and there's five leaders around

me, they're going, do you do exorcisms? Okay,

so we just... That's the context of the situation

that I find myself in. And I said, no. And they

were like, well, aren't you like a pope or a

preacher or like a priest or something? And I

said, I'm the assistant chaplain or, you know,

the assistant pastor of the church. And they

were like, oh, so you don't do that. So we'll

have to get someone else. And I was like, well,

tell me what are you trying to do? And then the

lady said, well. Do you know where to get holy

water? Because I watched this movie, and if I

have some holy water, I feel like we can dip

this item into the holy water. I can't tell my

joke. Shoot. I can't tell what I actually said

in that moment, because it would be... But if

you know how to make holy water... Anyways, we'll

just keep moving on. Somebody knew, maybe JT,

maybe Robert knows how to make holy water. You

can just fill in that blank. But I told them

how to make holy water and we all laughed. And

then I said, well, hand me the item. And they

were like, giving me almost like third degree.

Like, well, if you touch this item, if you handle

it, like bad things are going to happen to you.

And I just clearly looked at them. I said, look,

nothing is going to happen. Hand me the item.

I'll dispose of it. So sure enough, like I take

it and I walked it over to the compactor and

I threw it away. And I said, the item has been

taken care of. I called him up. I said, the item's

been taken care of. And ever since that point,

it was fine. But the leaders were like genuinely

concerned. Like they asked like three or four

times going like, did anything happen? And I

said, nope, I don't believe, you know, I'm covered

by the blood. I knew it. I was like, I'm covered

by the blood. I don't have to deal with that.

So, yeah. So. Here's the deal. We've been rescued

from the kingdom of darkness. None of that mess

has any power over us. When we're in Christ,

if you know who you are in Christ, none of that

mess has any power over you. That's the point

of this story. It might have some power over

somebody who's not in Christ, but it's not going

to have any power over you. Because you've been

rescued. You've been redeemed from the kingdom

of darkness. There is no fear when any of that

stuff happens. You've been rescued and redeemed

from the kingdom of darkness and translated into

the kingdom of God. How are we redeemed from

the kingdom of darkness? Because we've been purchased.

Our freedom has been purchased by the blood of

Jesus, and we have been forgiven. The blood not

only forgave sins, it executed a transfer of

ownership. Listen, the enemy's claim is now illegal.

Any previous claim is illegal after redemption.

Fear may still attack or try to attack you, but

listen, it has no authority to control you anymore.

If you're in Christ by the blood of Jesus, fear

has no authority to control you. Sin may tempt

you, and it will continue to tempt you. But listen,

sin no longer... has power to rule over you.

It is not your master anymore. And why is that?

Because we have a receipt. Your past may stick

up its head and try to accuse you some more.

But listen, because of the blood, it can no longer

define you unless you let it. See, if you continue

to let fear control you, it will. If you let

temptation master over you, it will. If you let

your past define you, it will continue. But because

of the redemption, it doesn't have to anymore.

It doesn't have to anymore. We can be free. Remember,

there's freedom in redemption. Here, faith enforces

what the blood has already secured. It's going

to take your faith to enforce it in your life.

If you don't know it and believe it, act on it

in those situations, when it tries to rear up

in your life, it's not going to be evident in

your life. It takes faith to enforce it. That's

why we need to know what the blood has purchased

for us, what the blood has made available for

us. We need to know it so that we can act in

faith. See, when we're redeemed, we shouldn't

be negotiating with darkness. There is no negotiating

anymore. We're not negotiating bondage. We're

resisting with covenant identity who we are in

Christ and what Christ has given us and made

available to us. The blood is not only a mechanism

of forgiveness. Without the shedding of blood,

there's no forgiveness. It is a revelation of

value. The price paid, don't miss this, the price

paid communicates something. It communicates

the worth that God has placed on what he's purchased.

The price paid communicates the worth God placed

on redemption. Write down anything else. I'd

say write down this next one. The value of any

item is determined by the price that somebody's

willing to pay. I don't care if you put it on

Facebook Marketplace and put $10 million on it.

If no one is willing to pay $10 million, it's

not worth $10 million. The owner... does not

get to place the value on something. The purchaser

is the one who places the value. We were in Arkansas.

Went to this guy's house to go eat after church.

And we went to his house. He said, Dean, I got

to show you something. And he took me into his

office in his house. And he had a... clear plastic

cube with a red stuffed animal. Anybody remember

Beanie Babies? It was a red pig. Had it in a

glass case. Had to show it to me. I went to his

house, he had to show it to me. And then he told

me something that I still haven't got over. In

20 years, probably since I was at the man's house.

More than that now. He said, I just bought that.

And I got it for $300. What did the Beanie Babies

cost? What did they cost? $4 .99? $5? $6? He

was proud that he had paid $300 for a Beanie

Baby. I'm talking a grown man. I didn't tell

him what I was thinking because I still wanted

to eat after we left his office. Listen, that

$5 or $6 Beanie Baby. It was worth $300 because

that's what the man paid for it. I would never

pay that for it. But that beanie baby was worth

$300. Listen to me. What are you worth to God?

I mean, I can look at myself in the mirror and

I can say, I ain't worth much most days. I think

the science teacher back when I was in high school

has probably gone up with inflation now, but

I think I used to be worth, if you just took

all the stuff that I'm made of, mostly carbon

and hydrogen and oxygen, and bottled it up to

sell it, I think it was like $8 and something

is about what I was worth. At that time, that's

back in the 80s. I might be worth $25 now. Who

knows? Thirty bucks. Science teacher told me

I was worth eight bucks. Well, my science teacher

didn't purchase me. What are you worth to God?

Listen. This is hard to wrap your brain around.

You are worth Jesus. You're worth Jesus. That's

what God thinks of you. And we look in the mirror

and we beat ourselves up so often. Right? Has

anybody ever beat yourself up before? In your

own mind, in your own thoughts. You just beat

yourself up and beat yourself down. But we've

got to realize something. We've been bought.

We're not our own anymore. We've been bought,

and that price was Jesus. And if God didn't think

you were worth it, he wouldn't have bought you.

Hallelujah. Our identity. needs to be anchored

in redemption, not anchored in experience. Listen,

not anchored in our experience in this broken,

fallen world, but our identity needs to be anchored

in redemption because our worth is not measured

by our past anymore. Our worth is not measured

by our feelings, which are fickle. Our worth

is not measured by any present struggle that

we're facing. Our worth is measured by the blood

of Jesus. And listen, to live beneath that, to

live beneath redemption is to live beneath the

price that was paid for you and for me. For us

to live our lives beneath that reality and that

identity. Look at the person beside you and say,

we need to step up then. We need to step up.

So how are we going to apply this truth? How

are we going to apply it? Here's a couple of

things to think about. Faith agrees with what

the blood has done. Not only believes, it speaks

in a line. with what the blood has done over

your life, what the blood has purchased. Some

of us are going to stay in bondage till our mouths

are liberated to say what God said. So faith

agrees with what the blood has done. It speaks

accordingly, then it acts accordingly. So hold

your head up. Look at the person beside you and

tell them, hold your head up. Hold your head

up. Because of who you are in Christ. Not because

of who you are, but because of who you are in

Christ. The Bible talks about boasting in what

Christ has done. We've got to get the wine out

of our voice. We can't even say the right words

and still have a wine in our voice. Hello? If

you've got a wine in your voice, you haven't

grasped the reality of what the blood has purchased

for you. If you've still got a wine in your voice.

We've got to speak our covenant identity. We

like to speak our struggle most of the time.

We like to speak our struggle. We like to speak

our problems. We like to speak our uncertainty.

We've got to speak covenant identity in agreement

with what the blood has purchased for us. You've

got to replace language of uncertainty with language

of redemption. Instead of, I'm trying to get

free, because a lot of people spend a lot of

time trying to get free, struggling, because

you think you've got to obtain your freedom,

and you don't realize that Jesus has already

obtained your freedom. As long as you're trying

to fight for it, you'll never get it. So instead

of saying, I'm trying to get free, say, I have

been redeemed and I belong to God. Because if

we're in Christ, we have. We've got to confront

temptation with our identity. We talked about

this in our life group going through Romans.

I mean, this is just full of this kind of language,

right? We've got to confront that temptation.

We've got to use our words. We've got to use

our mouth. We've got to use our understanding

and us being established in what the blood has

done for us. And we need to say, look, sin, you

are not my master anymore. You used to be my

master, but you're not anymore because I'm not

my own because I've been bought with the blood

of Jesus. So get on out of here. Leave me alone.

I'm not going to listen to your nonsense anymore.

You're not my master. Listen, that's not my nature

anymore. I'm in Christ. Old things have passed

away. All things have become new. So that's not

my nature anymore. I've been bought. I belong

to God. Our response to Jesus purchasing us.

should not be guilt -driven behavior anymore.

How many of you are like, I'm feeling that because

I had a lot of guilt -driven behavior in my relationship

with God because the religion that I was dealing

with was a little messed up, didn't understand.

Hello? So our response is not we're so guilty

that now we're going to try to act better because

we just feel guilty all the time if we don't.

If we understand that we've been purchased and

we belong to God, our response is gratitude -driven

consecration. Listen, integrity becomes worship.

Because we're bringing glory to God with our

life, right? Integrity becomes worship to God.

Purity becomes worship to God. Obedience becomes

worship. Generosity becomes worship. I want to

say this together. Everybody get... Like we're

in third grade and we're going to read off the

board. But don't just say it like you're reading

in the third grade. Let the truth of what you're

saying sink in as we say it together. Right?

Here we go. One, two, three. I am redeemed by

the blood of Jesus. I am bought with a price.

I belong to God. Spirit. soul, and body. The

enemy has no claim on me. I will glorify God

with my life. Who wants to say it again? Let's

say it again. One, two, three. I am redeemed

by the blood of Jesus. I am bought with a price.

I belong to God, spirit, soul, and body. The

enemy has no claim over me. I will glorify God

with my life. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. The blood

not only saved you, the blood needs to be what

defines you. Defines you. Everybody say, I have

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