THE BLOOD OF JESUS| James 1:14-15NKJV| Pastor David Oplinger

When the pastor had asked me to share the word, you know, my heart's always asking the Lord, what what would you have me bring?

Not what David wants to bring, but Lord, what would you have me bring?

And the thing that just kept kept rolling around in my mind, kept kept getting my heart.

I kept meditating and praying and thinking.

The blood of Jesus just kept coming and coming and coming.

And the thing about it is I don't ever want to think about the blood of Jesus is common.

And what I mean by that is that sometimes we're so raised in church and we go every Sunday morning and we do church so well that we forget what that blood meant.

We forget.

How valuable it was.

I'll even submit this to you.

To think when we were kids, right?

The people that were born in like the mid-1900s, they they thought that vinyl records would never be replaced, right?

They're gonna last forever.

That's the era, that's the age I live in, right?

And nevertheless, here come eight track tapes and replaced it, right?

And what, vinyl records were no longer the thing that was currently on your mind, the thing that you knew so well, right?

And before you know it, eight-track tapes were replaced by cassettes.

You know?

Irvin, was you walking around with the Walkman?

Nevertheless, the cassette tape replaced it, right?

Before you know, the compact disc, the C D came along, right?

And there's a young generation today that would look at you when you say C D and they'll be like, what's that abbreviated for?

Like, what does that mean, right?

They don't know these things, right?

Because what used to be the center of our attention has been replaced by what is newer, what is supposed to be better.

And if we're not careful, if we're not really, really careful, we can show up and go to church and say that I believe in the blood of Jesus, but never be applying it to our lives.

We can walk through the steps of religion but never have the victory that Christ proclaimed over our lives.

You might ask, like, why am I trying to convey all this?

And I do it, I fire a warning shot.

I do.

I fire a warning shot.

Be aware of the times and the seasons that we're in.

Because there are many places that are allowing a perverted gospel to creep in.

Where Christ is no longer king, where the blood no longer means what it used to mean, that just be washed in the blood, you know you're you're saved, and that's all you need.

We have to be aware of the times that we're in.

Gradually and surely, CDs, eight tracks, all those things faded away, right?

We're living in a time where the blood of Jesus is not preached with authority.

Times where people are looking to everywhere else other than Christianity.

Because why?

Because the church has allowed the blood to slip away.

And not that the blood ever loses its power.

Get this straight, get this right right now.

That the blood has never lost its power.

That cross still stood, that blood was shed, our sins was washed away.

The blood never lost its power.

We lost the focus.

We lost the focus on Christ being king.

We lost the focus that that blood was cost worthy.

It was priceless.

There's no price you could put on it.

In a time where we want to hear itchy ears, messages that pat us on the back and make us feel good.

We we love motivational speeches, right?

We we love things that make us feel good.

I don't think Jesus felt good when he was shedding that blood on the cross.

I'm confident.

When that cat of nine tails ripped into his skin and bit chunks out of him, he wasn't feeling good.

The blood's not an easy message.

It's not one that itches our ears.

It's not one that's like, oh yeah, this is an awesome message.

It is if you appropriate it right.

It is if you know the value of the blood.

It is if you go past just being washed with the blood and you start to apply the blood to your life, then the blood means everything to the believer.

Because at the heart of the gospel is what?

The blood of Jesus, because without the death, there is no burial and there is no resurrection.

And then the life that we live right now, this house being filled up, it's all vain.

If the blood of Jesus is not at the center of the gospel, there's still power in the blood.

Never lost its power.

Can we give an amen for that?

Never lost its power.

Some may say that the blood is old news, right?

But I think we need to be reminded of this truth every day.

We need to be reminded that the cross on Calvary was it was a hard place.

In a world that talks of cheap grace and overextending grace, and you know, God will forgive you and God will forgive you.

I remember the man that discipled me and the man that that brought me up in the things of the faith.

I remember walking around with men in a place called prison.

And I would be telling them the gospel, right?

And I would be telling them, Oh, Jesus loves you.

And I remember getting back to that cell, and I remember him rebuking me and correcting me.

And you know, my flesh said, It's this old man talking about, right?

But he says, You can't be telling them that Jesus loves them and everything's gonna be alright.

You gotta tell him the truth.

Gotta tell him the truth.

But yes, he knows your heart, he knows where you're at, but nevertheless, you can't keep living the life that you're living.

If the blood is important to your life, if you find value in the blood, you don't keep living any type of way.

You live in a way that says that blood was valuable, that it set me apart, that it sanctified me, that it set my feet on solid ground.

That's what the blood means in your life, and because of that, I don't no longer walk that way.

I walk towards the cross, I walk in faith towards what he done.

If we don't find value in the blood, we will let a culture twist it.

We will let a culture rob us of the inheritance that God has given us.

And if you haven't caught the theme for today's title, it's gonna be the blood of Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.

Let's pray.

So, Father God, we just thank you so much for the blood.

Lord, I never want to stand up here at this altar, my Lord my God, and preach a message that is not of you.

I believe the blood is a message for the time that we're in.

I believe the blood still applied today leads to victory in the believer's life.

I believe the blood cries out a better promise today, my Lord my God.

I believe the blood still has power in the name of Jesus.

I believe the blood still applied to the life can still set the addict free.

I think the blood of Jesus, not a thing.

I know in my heart and in my spirit that the blood applied, my Lord my God, can set anybody free from any bondage, can heal, can deliver, and can sanctify the believer's heart.

And I thank you for it, Lord.

I pray that your word goes forth with power and authority, and may we never lose, ever lose zeal for the blood of Christ.

We thank you for it, Lord.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

The first scripture I'm gonna use is not gonna be up on the board, but I want to bring you to where the blood was first brought in.

The Bible.

And in Genesis 3, we know the fall happened, right?

We know Adam and Eve, they were tempted to eat the fruit, right?

And it says, after they ate, God comes walking through the garden, right?

And what's the first thing they do?

They hide.

Because of sin, because of disobedience, it brought conviction, it brought a conscience about things that was going on.

And then the first thing God does is say, Where are you, Adam?

Do you think God didn't know where Adam was at?

I believe he knew exactly where Adam was at.

Not a doubt in my mind, God knew where Adam was at.

Was Adam gonna answer?

What was Adam gonna answer, right?

But nevertheless, when we see this in Genesis 3 and verse 21, if you got your Bibles, you can read them.

Uh but also for Adam and his wife, the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them.

Do you think God just magically appeared tunics and covered them?

There had to be blood that was shed, right?

Because for a skin to come off an animal, I've never seen an animal that jumped out of its skin and still lived.

But every animal that I see that was skinned was dead, right?

So there had to be blood that was shed.

There had to be a covering for sin because sin entered to the world at this point in time, and we know that sin is ugly.

A righteous and a holy God cannot stand before sin.

And yet we live as Christians like we can keep on sinning, like we can keep on living however.

And that the holy God is gonna say, Come on.

I believe the blood of Jesus is a lot more serious than that.

I believe the blood of Jesus was so valuable that because he gave his life, just as Paul said, that his life he lives now is no longer his.

So that the life lived now is not Irvine, but it's Christ.

Just like I said a couple weeks ago, the life that you live, people should see more Christ in you than the world.

So life was perfect in the garden, right?

Before this sin entered.

Fellowship.

As I said a couple weeks ago, Koinania, right?

This active participation.

I love it when Adam was in the garden with God, and it says that God brought him every animal.

And this is how Koinea, the right relationship, works, right?

He brought him every animal because what?

He wanted his son to be like him, right?

Like, let me give him some authority.

Let him let him be like me, right?

And he brings them every animal, and I could just think of Adam sitting there, and you know, you see an animal walk up, he said, that one's a duck.

You know, and you can see his dad, like, yes, son, you got it, you got it, you know.

And another one walks by and says, That's a moose.

Yes, son, you're doing awesome, you know.

And you see the relationship, koinonia, that was developing, right?

And all of that was severed at the moment that sin entered the world.

Sin entered the world with Adam and Eve through disobedience.

But that's not all that entered with sin.

Because death entered with sin.

Sin in all its ugliness contaminated what was pure.

And because sin has to be dealt with, God in Genesis 3.21 killed an animal, covered them with tunics, because now they were aware of their nakedness, right?

And we all know that animals just don't appear.

But there has to be blood shed for them.

My first point for today's message is gonna be sin is serious.

How many believe sin is serious?

I believe it's so serious.

And just like we overlook the blood of Jesus sometimes.

I believe we do the same thing with sin.

Especially if it's our own personal sin.

I want to bring you to the first scripture today in James 1.14, and we're gonna see what scripture says about sin.

I know it's gonna be up on the screen for you all, but I'm a little more old school and I like to read it straight from the Bible.

In James 1.14, it says, But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.

In verse 15, then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, what does it bring forth?

Death.

This is a well-known scripture, you guys probably all know as well.

It's Romans 6 23, and it says, For the wages of sin is death.

What the free gift is eternal life through Christ Jesus.

Scripture speaks for itself.

Sin brings forth death.

This is the curse that we have inherited from Adam.

Scripture clearly states that through the one man Adam, right?

That sin entered the world.

And that through sin, death entered the world.

And that because death had entered the world and we have all sinned, we have inherited what?

Yes.

Because I don't see, I know I'm not sinless.

And I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand because I know there's nobody sinless here.

As good of a life that you may live.

None of us are sinless without the blood of Christ.

The inheritance that came from Adam was from the physical side of things.

It would hold us under the curse of sin and death, and not only physical bondage, but spiritual separation from God's presence.

One thing I think about sin is I know the life that I lived before, the sin that I was committing, whether it was drinking or drugs or whatever it was, it was physically killing me.

And I was never aware of what it was doing to me spiritually because I was spiritually dead.

I never knew what it was to be awakened to the things of God.

I never knew the voice of God.

I was never keen to pick up on it.

And it wasn't until I knew what being washed with the blood of Christ was about when I start to learn the seriousness of sin and what it was to get away from it that life started to get breathed into me, and the life that I lived in had to be done away with, that the old man had to die, and I had to leave it behind.

Because I knew that death was imminent in it, not only physically, but spiritually.

Koinonia would be severed.

Intimacy with the Lord could never stand when sin is in the place.

It's just like Adam when Koinea was interrupted, then it's this virus called sin that entered the bloodstream.

And from Adam, each and every one of us inherited the same thing.

And just like our earthly fathers, right?

There's a blood transfusion at birth that happens.

That you have the identity of your father's blood that is transferred unto you.

The same thing happened for Adam's lineage, all the way down to us.

Sin is serious business, and we must deal with it.

We often brush it off, and like I say, we use the comparison card.

We say, well, my sin's not as bad as so-and-so's sin, right?

So what's it do?

It makes us feel better about ourselves.

My sin's not as bad as yours, right?

Don't matter.

Like, that's the lie of the enemy that we would believe such deception, but that's the world that we live in, that we would rather motivate ourselves, we would rather make ourselves feel better about the situation than actually apply the truth to it.

And the place where we look like that at other people, we're no better than Adam.

We want to say bad things about old Uncle Adam, as Pastor would say.

Uh but Adam, when he sinned, he hid.

And the first thing that when he started talking to God, and men always loved this verse because they're like, the woman you gave me.

But nevertheless, Adam knew better.

That dude knew right from wrong.

He was walking with the Lord.

The commandment wasn't given to the woman, it was given to Adam, do not eat of such fruit.

And nevertheless, Adam deliberately, like a Nesio, he said, I'm gonna do what I want to do, you know?

And we're the same way.

Let's get real.

Man, we can't just be trying to justify our sin.

Adam tried pushing it off on Eve.

But we must learn to man up, woman up.

We must learn to take responsibility on this walk that we're on.

Scripture even tells us to walk worthy of the call.

Worthy.

Each and every person that I see out there.

If you are blood bought, you have been called.

You have been called out of darkness into marvelous light.

So the walk that you're on beckons you to be serious about sin, to stop petting it like it's a little kitty cat, to stop hiding in the closet about it, to stop ushering it off in the corner, to stop doing these things that you know are against God's command.

And it's not about whether you think it hurts you or not, or whether it hurts somebody else or not.

This is about you hurting the heart of God.

When the Father God looks at you and he sees that your blood bot, that you're covered by the blood, and you continue to do the things that you know is not godly?

To continue to do the things you know is an absolute, absolutely gives the things of God in his word.

And this isn't about, well, you know, my dad said it wasn't so bad.

Who cares what your dad said?

Do I say honor your father?

Absolutely.

What does scripture say about it?

If you're a believer, you better start letting this rule your life.

When this starts to rule your life, then you'll come into alignment.

Your father, if he's unsaved, start living this by your life.

Your father may get saved.

You know what?

And then it'll be easier to submit unto him.

It'll be easier to honor him, right?

In the name of Jesus.

Man, we gotta get serious about this thing called sin.

And nobody wants to talk about it because you know what?

It makes people uneasy.

Because we're comfortable where we're at.

And whether it's the sin of omission, whether you know to do right and you do not do it, or it's the sin of commission that you know that you're doing wrong and you just do it anyways, like old Uncle Adam.

Either way, we gotta see sin, how God sees sin.

I gotta say, when the Father looks at us and we're doing the things that are not godly, when we're doing the things that we know are not of Christ, knowing what the scripture says, you are held accountable.

Now the person that doesn't know the scripture, because they're ignorant to it, you know what, they can get by with it a little bit.

I'm not saying it's right, but knowledge means accountability.

Especially when truth has been revealed unto you.

So every one of you today, you have heard the seriousness of sin.

That means don't go back home and start petting your sin.

It means start to deal with it.

If you got something odd against your wife, you go and reconcile the thing.

You got some things wrong with your children, you go back and be the bigger man and you humble yourself and say, Dad said something that was not right.

Maybe I spoke wrong, maybe my tone, maybe whatever it was.

Start making some things right.

If you got a porn collection, you start getting rid of that junk because it's killing you.

You got some dope in your cover, start getting rid of the stuff.

You got a wheat stash, burn the stuff, flush it down the tool, start getting rid of the things that are killing you.

Start to get serious about your sin.

You know what?

You can't do it by yourself.

Go find you a Bible buddy, go find you a Jonathan, go find you a David that will come alongside you and walk you through the things of God so that victory can be proclaimed over your life.

Gotta get serious about this stuff.

This ends downright ugly in the eyes of God.

It's not up to us to judge whether it's right or wrong.

It's up to God.

What's his word say?

Don't know what his words say.

Serene.

Don't go to, you know, evangelist so-and-so or apostle so-and-so.

Get into the word yourself.

It's quick.

Alive.

It says it quickens you, quick, it makes you alive.

We need that.

We don't need a word from so-and-so.

We need a word from God.

We need Him to speak to our hearts.

We need relationship with a living God, not another person that says that they heard from God.

So important that we get plugged into it so that we can start to see what it says about the serious enough sin.

See what it says about how we need to start lining up our lives.

There's no big sin nor little sin in the eyes of God.

It's all rooted in the hearts of those that do not surrender unto the Lordship of Jesus.

I'll put it like this so many Christians today want the Savior Jesus.

He saved me from my sins, right?

We love that.

I don't I don't have to go to hell.

But we don't want the Lord Jesus Christ.

Oh, I thought they were the same.

Absolutely not the same.

Lord means I submit.

I surrender.

He's the shot collar.

If you were a gang member before, I bow my knee before no other other than Jesus.

He's the shot collar of my life.

He's the one that I submit to.

He's the one I surrender to.

He's the final authority in my life.

That is Lordship.

That my life is modeled after his life now.

I'm not patterning my life after the world no more.

But the pattern of my life is found through Christ's word, the revelation of who he is, the Lagos revealed unto us.

Remember, the wages of sin is death.

Most of you work here, you work for a wage, right?

You get paid for something you do, whether you do side work or you got a regular nine to five.

We are earning a wage every time we choose to do things our way outside of what God has called us.

It's time to see the seriousness of sin through the eyes of God.

It's time to start waving the bloodstained banner of Christ over our sin.

It's time to start walking in the victory that Christ has proclaimed over your life.

It's not tired of, or it's time to stop living in defeat, but it's time that we get sick of sin.

It's time that when it starts to creep into your mind that you start to get angry about it because you think that anger is a bad thing.

Jesus flipped over tables, but sometimes I'm gonna tell you, when I started dealing with addiction, I had to start to hate the things that I used to love because if I don't hate it, I will allow it to come in.

So if you got some things in your life that need to be taken care of, it's all right to hate that thing.

I'm not saying go hate your wife, but I'm saying go hate the sin that is keeping you from becoming all that God has created you to be.

Because through one man, sin ended the world and death.

But through the blood, the blood of one man, Jesus Christ, the curse has been abolished.

Amen.

That's good news.

That's shouting ground right there.

That's time where we could get up and start thanking God because he abolished the curse of sin and death that was proclaimed over our lives that we would have lived in till the day that we died.

And the unbeliever is still living in that curse.

And he proclaimed freedom over us.

I love this.

Our debt has been paid in full.

Amen.

Amen.

So point number two for me is gonna be sin's enemy.

Who knew sin had an enemy?

Amen.

Amen.

The blood of Jesus is the very enemy of sin.

Why?

Because they can't stand each other.

They can't stand in the same room.

In Genesis 3, we see Adam and Eve's sin bringing forth death.

But God Himself meets this sin with the shedding of blood, right?

To make atonement, to make a covering for the sin.

Sin could not remain to any degree.

And a relationship with the Holy God be sustained.

And I pray that today, even when sin tries to creep into our lives, because I know what the Word of God says.

And it says that Jesus says that I must go, that I must leave somebody with you.

In John 14, 26, he says that I will leave you the Holy Spirit, I'll leave you the parakletos, the one that will come alongside you, the one that will walk with you, the one that will teach you, the one that will guide you.

So that I know that when sin creeps into my life, when it starts as a thought, when it starts to drop in, that if I know the Holy Spirit, I know a holy God lives and resides in me, that I know that what is unholy, it tries to creep in, then my awareness, my spiritual sense has to kick in, and I have to take a stand against it.

Because if I let the sin creep in, and we all have before, even as believers.

And you know what?

I don't got no peace.

I don't got no rest.

I know life in my house starts getting crazy.

We've got to be sensitive.

We've got to start drawing a line when sin tries to creep in.

Because if your blood bots, you got the Holy Ghost living in you.

You're washed by the blood, right?

Then that means that you have a Holy Spirit that is there to guide you, lead you, convict you of sin and judgment and righteousness.

Literally, his job title.

And you know what?

His first name being holy, this isn't a name, but the title given unto him, holy.

And the thing that got me, even when I was stuck in addiction and I gave my life to the Lord, and the thing that he wrecked me with was in 1 Corinthians, and he says, Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Lord?

And every time I would smoke, and every time I would drink, and every time I would do the junk of this world, what was holy, what was supposed to be holy ground, I was pouring poison into and destroying.

And man, he wrecked me with it, and never to pick up the junk again.

Because I knew what it was doing to him.

In the same way you have a holy spirit that lives in you, don't let the garbage start taking over in your life where your insides start to look like a dumpster instead of what is supposed to be pure and clean and holy because the spirit lives in you.

Stinky brother.

Amen, amen.

We don't want that, brother.

Alright, let's go to Hebrews 9.22.

I'm gonna be reading out of the New King James.

So Hebrews 9.22.

And according to the law, almost all things are purified with blood.

And without the shedding of blood, there is no remission.

So just as in Genesis 3, we see that there was an animal shed for the covering of their sin.

Scripture continues to back it up right here, according to the law.

Almost all things are purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no remission.

And Hebrews 9 22, in the amplified, we'll give you a different thought right here, just a little bit different.

It says, in fact, under the law, almost everything is purified by means of blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is neither release from sin, and it's guilt nor the remission of the due and merited punishment for sin.

So without blood shed, you will still continue to live under the guilt of sin.

You'll still live under the condemnation of sin.

You'll still continue to walk in a way that is not in the freedom that Christ has proclaimed over your life when the blood is applied to it.

Blood had to be shed to cover sin.

Old Testament practices offered the blood of bulls and lambs, but these were all temporary, right?

These were all temple practices.

They lasted for a short period of time.

Yeah, glory be to God.

There's a blood that cries out a better promise.

This blood has power.

This blood does not provide temporary relief.

This blood was shed so that sin could be conquered, not just defeated, but conquered.

Because when he went to the cross, what did he take with him?

He took the keys of sin and death with him, right?

You might say, how can the strong arm of sin be conquered?

Especially in our own lives.

But you've got to start looking at the reality of this blood.

It's not just a cute addition that we put on a prayer.

I've heard it a hundred times.

By the blood of Jesus.

You know, we continue to walk in sin afterwards.

It's not just religious language that sounds cool.

It's not the blood inherited by our physical veins from our fathers in this world.

It's not the blood that's inherited from Adam and Eve from lineage and lineage and lineage passed down, the blood that courses physically through our veins.

And just like you receive blood from your father that identifies you with them, if you trace your blood, you can identify with your earthly father, right?

Well, the same thing with Jesus.

He got blood from his father.

You know what?

It says that there was a virgin birth, so there was no intimacy right there, but it came from the Father.

So the identity of Christ, his father, the blood that flows through his veins, is holy blood.

It's blood that sets him apart, it's blood that's not tainted by the world.

It's not blood that's perverted, but it's holy blood.

It's the blood that conquers sin.

The blood that defeated death.

And you know what?

This is the blood that we inherit when Christ becomes Lord of our life.

Amen.

Let's go to Hebrews 9, 12 through 14.

It says not with the bull of the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood.

For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot, to God to cleanse your conscience from dead works, to serve the living God.

It purified what was on the outside, but it never shifted what was on the inside.

But it said that Christ went to the most holy place.

He went into the place himself, sacrificing himself right there at the altar.

To serve the living God.

The blood that was shed on the cross was precious, blood unspotted, unblemished, unconquered, defeated sin and therefore defeated sin's power, which is death.

The blood does what goats and bulls could never do.

Goats and bulls was an outward expression.

They could only wash for a period of time.

Yet the blood of Christ cleanses the person from the inside out.

It cleanses the condemned conscience, washes the filthy heart.

The blood quite literally transforms us if we will appropriate what his blood really stands for.

It calls us to live righteously, it identifies us with the kingdom of God.

Even Aaron, the priest in the Old Testament, they said they sprinkled blood over his ear, on his right thumb, and on his right toe.

And what it does is it set him apart as something special, as a priest unto the Lord.

It identified him in the things of God, it identified him in his calling and his role.

So that when you got the blood of Jesus applied to your life, when you're washed in the blood, it identifies you with the Father, it identifies you with the kingdom of God, it identifies you as not in the world no more, but in the things of God.

Colossians 1:13 and 14.

Colossians 1:13

Who loves the word of God, right?

See, I didn't come to tickle ears and itch ears, and but I came just to speak what the word of God is.

And it may be hard sometimes to receive, but nevertheless, I would rather have truth spoken to me.

And I would have it rather have it wreck me and derail me, and I become a better man, a better image of Christ afterwards.

Amen.

And it says that he has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of his son, of his love, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin.

So the blood, what has it done?

You were once in the kingdom of darkness.

You were once walking according to the patterns of this world, fulfilling the deeds of your flesh.

There was no right or wrong, only what you thought was right and wrong.

Only what traditionally was taught to you was right and wrong.

But nevertheless, you have been conveyed.

Other translations will put you've been translated into the kingdom of his dear son.

And how did this happen?

By the blood of Christ.

There is power in this blood, there is importance in this blood.

It's not something that just passed away 2,000 years ago, but it's something we must appropriate each and every day of our Christian lives.

Because without it, we don't got no gospel.

We don't have a life that we're living if the blood is not applied.

His blood transformed.

No longer do we have to be slaves to sin, but now we have been redeemed.

What's redeemed?

You've been bought back in the curse of sin and death.

You've been justified.

I love how they put it just as if you've never.

So that when the Father looks upon you, he doesn't see dirty old David sin stained from the things of the world.

But he sees his son.

Amen.

It says that we've been reconciled.

We've been brought into relationship because of and through the blood, we are sanctified.

We are set apart.

Right?

This is translated from kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear son.

Set apart.

Literally, sanctified means to be set apart.

So you were here and now you're free.

Amen.

Amen.

So my final point for today is gonna be applying to the blood.

So we've talked about these aspects of the seriousness of sin.

We've talked about sin's enemy to the blood.

So let's start to see what scripture says about applying the blood to our lives.

It's not enough just to know about the blood.

We can't just know about being washed in the blood, but we have to apply the blood to our lives.

To say that just being washed by the blood is to say that I'm just comfortable to go to heaven.

But don't ask me or think about nothing else.

To apply the blood is to take in account the price for the blood.

And therefore, what God calls you into is that you are now in his kingdom.

Go to 1 Peter 1 13 tonight.

Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lust, as in your ignorance, but as he who is called you is holy, you are also to be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, Be holy, for I am holy.

And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges, according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear.

Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, you were not bought with silver and gold, you were not bought at any That this world can offer, but it says that you were bought with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot.

The blood of Christ was the most valuable sacrifice ever offered.

The perfect Lamb of God, spotless, unblemished by sin, and yet crucified for the ugliness of my sin.

I can't speak for you, but I know the ugliness of my sin.

And he died for it.

I've got to find value for God.

I know that this blood wasn't just any old blood.

I know it wasn't things that we desire, the riches of this world, silver and gold, but this was something that was so powerful and so life-changing.

One thing to understand you are washed by the blood, but to apply the blood has to be revelation.

It has to be something that the Lord reveals to you.

Revelation moves you to be an active participant of this call.

Revelation rips the believer's heart when they think of all he endured on the cross.

Revelation calls us to live in holy just as he is holy.

Not just on Sunday.

Sadly enough, one of the only other times that we hear about the blood of Jesus is on Resurrection Sunday.

Or Good Friday.

Six months at a time.

Reminded only when a message comes around.

We should be conscious about what that blood means to us.

Every day we should be burying in the body the revelation of Christ to this world.

And how are we gonna do that?

By applying the blood to the light.

Walking like that blood means something.

Go to 1 John 1 7.

And what?

The blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin.

I love this verse because we we go ahead and we we know the verse 9 by heart, right?

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

But I love verse 7 here because what it says is that the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us.

This is a present plural tense.

So the life that you live now, the blood is still actively cleansing you, sanctifying you, setting you apart day after day, moment after moment, minute by minute.

The blood is actively cleansing you.

For me, that's good news.

I don't know about you, but for me, that makes me excited.

That makes me know that I'm not walking this thing alone.

That blood's not old, that blood is coursing through me right now, watching me, renewing me, changing my mind.

Amen.

As I was studying, I was listening to a uh an old message from Reinhard Bunke, old time revivalist.

Uh nevertheless, he said that he was invited to a place, and this atheist had some questions for him.

And the first thing he did, he said he came in there and the atheist started just pestering about questions.

He said, and the first thing he said was about the blood of Christ.

He says, Well, the blood of Christ is old, it's over 2,000 years old.

He says, You can look out in the world today.

He said, I don't think the blood has any power.

This is what the atheist said.

He said, I don't think the blood has any power.

He said, since 2,000 years ago, are we in a better state or a worse state than we were before?

You know, to the physical eye, it looks like we're in a worse state, right?

But nevertheless, Ron Hard Bonke told him this.

He's like, but it's just like soap.

He said, There's all kinds of soap in the world.

There's all kinds of dirty people still too.

The difference is you can have a bar of soap sitting beside you.

But if you never pick the bar of soap up, if you never start to take that bar of soap and start to apply it to your skin, when you start to wash some things off of your life, so just like that, atheist, you know what?

There could be a bar of soap, there could be the blood of Christ, there could be the powerful word of God, but if you don't start to pick it up and apply it, if you don't start to let it work in your life, if you don't let the power of it be released in your life, then you know what?

The bar of soap, the word of God, will continue to collect dust over there, and it'll never change you, it'll never work in you, and it'll never do nothing in your life because you have never used it.

When we apply the blood, it continues to transform us and shape us into Christlieness.

For me, failing to apply the blood leaves too much room for the enemy to start creeping into your life.

For me, personally, I'm tired of seeing believers beat down and not walking in victory.

You know, Christ came to purchase his church with his blood.

A beautiful, spotless bride.

He didn't come back for a defeated bride.

He didn't come back with a bride that had black eyes and been abused by the world because she's been flirting with the things of it and with the abusive husband of the world.

But no, he's coming back for a bride that is spotless, a bride that is standing, a bride that knows their position, knows that they're washed by the blood, knows the value of the blood.

That's the kind of bride he's coming back for.

And my heart gets wrecked when I start to see believers continue to walk around like they're beat up.

And the thing about it is you got to start to learn what this blood means.

You gotta start to learn what it is to apply it in your life.

You gotta start to learn that Sunday's not the only place that you should be coming to get the blood in your life, but your blood that is from Christ is flowing through your veins.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Every day of the week, there is a place that you can sit down and let the anointing of God flow through you.

Apply that blood, appropriate that blood, let it wash your life and renew you.

Thank you, Lord.

Go to Leviticus 17, 11.

It says, For the life of the flesh is where?

In the blood.

And I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls.

For it's the blood that makes atonement for the soul.

And this is all Levitical law, this is all type and shadow of what is to come.

It's all symbolic of what Christ was gonna accomplish on the cross.

But I want to share one more thought with you, and it's not gonna be up on the board, but verse 14 it says, For it is the life of all flesh.

It's blood that sustains life.

So when the blood is applied to your life, then what does it give you?

Not the death that came from the curse, but the blood applied to your life breathes life into you.

It gives you the knowledge, the wisdom, the understanding to walk according to what God has called you to.

So because we have the blood, we have life.

We know scripture says that the thief comes, right?

To steal, to kill, and to destroy.

But it says that Christ came that we could have life and life abundantly.

This is the life of the believer.

Not just to live and move and be active in this world, but a life that is surrendered and submitted, a life that is full of the things of God, a life that is full of the anointing of God so that we can flow upon others.

A life that is not just satisfied with being washed by the blood, but a life that lives with the blood applied, a life that says, because the blood is applied to my life, it's no longer about me, it's no longer my selfish motives, it's no longer about me making my business or making XYZ.

But now the life that I live, when there's a need, we meet it because Christ is alive in us.

When there's a need, what the blood cries out, saying, There's a testimony, there's something you gotta bring forth over here.

Go over here, do this, do that.

Not because it's my agenda, but because the blood has cried out and testifies something greater.

The blood applied calls us forth to live holy lives, counting the value of the blood.

This blood does not care about your social status, doesn't care how many followers you got on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, don't care about none of that.

Don't care about your bank account, your church attendance, or where you serve.

The blood, the one thing the blood desires is to bring you close to the Father.

It desires to call you out of darkness.

It desires to see you walk into a new kingdom.

When I think about the blood, I think of when the blood is applied to your life.

You know what?

We live in a spiritual atmosphere, and when demons see you, they see somebody that's walking with the power and the anointing of God on them.

They're seeing somebody that walks and they see the blood of Christ applied to their lives.

They're walking and seeing somebody that walks in authority.

And you know what?

Demons know that they have no authority over the blood of Christ, they know that they can't touch that because there's power in the blood of Christ.

Even the angel of death passes over when the blood is applied.

You may remember in the ten plagues in Egypt, there was blood applied to the doorpost.

And the firstborn was saved.

The blood applied, they didn't wash their doorpost.

They applied it to the doorpost.

What did death do?

It had to pass.

Some of you today need to learn to apply the blood because you've been wallering in a place where death is trying to hold you back.

Some of you need to apply the blood to your life.

Because you've let some demons in.

You've let some things in.

They're not conducive to building a holy relationship with the Father.

Seek to apply it to the life.

Don't forget there's power.

Like the old hymnal goes, right?

Power, power, wonder working.

Power in the blood of the Lamb.

Pray we never forget that.

I'm gonna open up this altar.

Maybe today you've never applied the blood of Jesus to your life.

I don't know every heart here.

Maybe you've never even been washed by the blood of Jesus.

Maybe you don't know what it is even to call him Savior.

Let alone Lord.

But I do want to take this time to open this altar.

And if you are that person that has never called him Savior or Lord, don't be afraid.

Don't let nothing hold you back from this moment.

To start walking in victory.

Just pray that even in this time that you take it, everybody's welcome.

Come up here and worship.

Find value in the blood.

Know what it is to apply it to your life.

Do business with the Lord.

This isn't about me.

You do business with the Lord.

Maybe you got some junk in your life that you need to deal with.

This is a perfect place, perfect atmosphere, perfect setting for the Holy Spirit to do a work in your life.

Maybe you're wrestling right now in your chair whether you need to go throw that stash away.

Why not have the Lord come do some business in your life first?

So that what?

When you get back to the house, the spirit of that thing doesn't discourage you from getting rid of it.

The altar is open.

Worship the Lord because the blood is powerful.

Amen.