There Is Power in the Blood of the Lamb
Colossians 1:12-14
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - Sept. 30, 2012
*“There is power, power, wonder working power in the precious blood of the Lamb.” To the Christ-rejecters of our day those words sound strange, barbaric and even repulsive. But we know better!
*And Christians, we are here today to worship the Lamb of God who poured out His precious blood for our sins.
-This is what Jesus Christ did when He died on the cross for us all.
-Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us.
-He gave His life to take the punishment for our sins.
-And now, our Risen Savior offers His everlasting life to everyone who will trust in Him as Savior and Lord.
*Today, as believers, we will worship the Lord through the Lord’s Supper, understanding that these little pieces of dry bread and cups of grape juice are symbols of the Lord’s sacrifice. His sacrifice was by far, the most important sacrifice the world will ever see: The Body and Blood of Jesus Christ which He gave on the cross for you.
*Before we take the Lord’s Supper today, let me remind you of the wonderful power of the blood of Jesus Christ. Here in God’s Word we see four great powers of the blood for all who will believe in Jesus Christ.
1. First: The blood of Jesus Christ has the power to make us ready for Heaven.
*In vs. 12, Paul said the Father has “qualified” us to take part in “the inheritance of the saints in the light.” This is what the KJV means when it says the Father has “made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.”
*The Living Bible says the Father has made us fit to share all the wonderful things that belong to those who live in the Kingdom of light.” Through the cross of Jesus Christ all believers are made fit and ready to go to Heaven.
*Christians: There is nothing else we need to do to be qualified for Heaven.
-All believers are qualified to be part of God’s royal family.
-All believers are qualified to be part of God’s eternal Kingdom.
*I am not qualified to do brain surgery or drill teeth or fly an airplane or fix your car. I am not qualified to play for the Saints or LSU.
-I am not qualified to do a lot of things.
-But I am qualified to go to Heaven because of the blood of Jesus Christ!
*The Apostle Paul explained how this works in 2 Cor 5:17. Here Paul said: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
*Then in vs. 21, Paul explained: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” In other words: God the Father made God the Son, Jesus Christ, who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
*Jesus never sinned, but He took all of our sins on Himself when He died on the cross, so that we could have His righteousness when we have Him as our Savior and Lord.
*Bill Bouknight explained this amazing exchange this way: “A sinless Christ took upon himself the sin of all people, bore it to Calvary, suffered and died for it, and in exchange covered all believers with his perfect righteousness. . .”
*Then Bill said: “Let's suppose that I am wearing a coat that reveals the state of my soul.
-Every commandment I ever broke.
-Every needy person I ever ignored.
-Every lustful thought I ever had.
-Every profanity I ever uttered all have left dirty marks on my coat.
*What a filthy garment it is! I must wear the coat. And no cleaner on earth can remove its dirt, stains, and smudges. Let's suppose that Jesus approaches me. I try to hide because I don't want him to see my filthy coat. It reveals everything bad about me. But Jesus finds me and says, ‘Bill, I know all about your coat. I love you anyway. Give me the coat.’
*Miserable with shame, I turn the coat over to him. Then I watch as he marches off to Calvary. He wears it on the cross, bearing the penalty for every smudge and stain. And at that very moment when he cries out from the cross, ‘It is finished’ and breathes his last, suddenly I, become aware that I am wearing a new coat.
*Instantly I recognize it. It is Jesus' coat! Not a smudge or a stain on it, it's a coat of perfect righteousness. Now I can walk into the very presence of God, clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. What a trade!” (1)
*Only it’s more than a new coat. It’s a whole new life!
-The blood of Jesus Christ has the power to make us ready for Heaven.
2. And it has the power to rescue us.
*The blood of Jesus Christ has the power to rescue us from Satan’s death grip. Paul stressed this power of the blood in vs. 13, when he said that our Heavenly Father “has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated (or moved) us into the kingdom of His dear Son.”
*That word “deliver” means “to rescue someone.” And it has the idea of rushing to rescue someone. Without Jesus Christ, we are trapped by Satan in spiritual darkness and death. But Jesus came to rescue us from darkness and death!
*Hebrews 2 explains it to believers this way. First in vs. 9&10:
9. But we see Jesus (by faith that is), who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.
10. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
*Now in vs. 14&15:
14. Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
15. and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
*No matter how hard you try, there is nothing you can do rescue yourself from Satan’s death grip.
*King Duncan explained: “There are some situations in which we can not deliver ourselves. If a large ocean liner stops in the middle of the Atlantic, the passengers simply cannot get out, get behind the boat, and push. Or as one old time preacher put it: ‘If a man is drowning, he cannot save himself by grabbing his hair and pulling himself up.’” (2)
*The rescue of salvation for us can never come from within. It must come from above. So, everyone without Christ is in great danger, because all of us have sinned. And the wages of sin is everlasting death.
*But Christians can say: “God has rescued me from the power of death!” And He did it through the cross of Jesus Christ.” Or as Paul said in vs. 13: “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son.”
-The blood of Jesus Christ has the power to rescue us.
3. And it has the power to redeem us.
*The blood of Jesus Christ has the power to redeem us from spiritual slavery. We see this power of the blood in vs. 13-14, where Paul said God the Father:
13. has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son,
14. in whom we have redemption through His blood.
*Salvation can only come by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross for us. In Him “we have redemption through His blood. . .”
*Redemption is deliverance or liberation obtained by paying a ransom. Jesus Christ redeems or pays the ransom for everyone who trusts in Him. That’s why in Matt 20:28 Jesus said, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
*And 1 Peter 1:18-19 tells Christians:
18. . . “You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,
19. but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
*The blood of Jesus Christ has the power to redeem us from spiritual slavery.
*Many years ago, A.J. Gordon was a pastor in Boston. One day he saw a young boy in front of the church. The boy was carrying a rusty cage that held several, very nervous, birds.
*Pastor Gordon asked, “Son, where did you get those birds?” -- The boy replied, “I trapped them out in the field.”
*“What are you going to do with them?” -- “I’m going to play with them. And then I guess I’ll just feed them to an old cat we have at home.”
*When the preacher offered to buy them, the boy said, “Mister, you don't want them. They're just little old wild birds and can't sing very well.”
*But Pastor Gordon replied, “I'll give you $2 for the cage and the birds.”
-“Okay, it's a deal, but you're making a bad bargain.”
*The exchange was made and the boy went away whistling. Pastor Gordon walked around to the back of the church, opened the door of the small cage, and let the struggling birds fly into the blue sky.
*The next Sunday he took the empty cage into the pulpit and used it to illustrate his sermon about Jesus coming to seek and to save the lost. He talked about Jesus paying for the lost with His own precious blood. And then Pastor Gordon said, “That boy told me the birds were not singers. But when I released them and they winged their way toward heaven, it seemed to me they were singing, ‘Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed!’” (3)
*The blood of Jesus Christ was the precious price God paid to deliver us from spiritual slavery. The blood of Jesus Christ was the only price that could redeem us from our slavery to sin.
-The blood of Jesus Christ has the power to redeem us.
4. And it has the power to release us.
*Being released is the idea behind the word “forgiveness in vs. 14. There Paul explained to Christians that in Jesus “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”
*This word “forgiveness” is talking about a pardon for our sins, being released from prison, being let go from our sins as if they had never been committed. And we can get this pardon only because Jesus Christ took the full punishment for our sins when He died on the cross for us.
*Christians: All of our sins are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. So in Psalm 32:1, King David said: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”
*Years ago, Anne Graham Lotz visited a woman on death row. The woman was convicted of multiple murders, but during her time in prison, she had become a Christian.
*As her execution date drew near, the woman began to fear that maybe her sins were too big to be forgiven. Maybe God's grace wasn't meant for someone like her.
*Anne asked the woman if she had ever been to the beach. Had she ever seen holes in the sand?
-For instance, the sand crab makes tiny pinholes in the sand.
-Little children digging out forts make bigger holes.
-And giant, earth-moving equipment can dig much deeper holes.
*“Well,” Anne continued, “when the tide comes in, doesn't the water cover everything?” (4)
*In the same way, the blood of Jesus Christ is able to cover over any sin, -- no matter how big that sin may be.
*This is the power of the blood of Jesus Christ!
*Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and then join us in taking the Lord’s Supper.
*You can call on the Lord to save you right now, as we go to God in prayer.
INVITATION
*Now as we begin the Lord’s Supper, the Deacons will come forward to serve the bread and the cup.
*Please understand that these little pieces of dry bread and cups of grape juice are symbols of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ which He gave on the cross for you. And this meal is to show the Lord’s death until He comes.
*Also remember that the Lord’s Supper is for everyone who has received Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. So, if you know Jesus, we invite you to share. But first we will pray to reflect on our lives and repent of our sins, because the last thing we want to do today is take the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy way. Listen to the Apostle Paul in 1 Cor 11:27-29:
27. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
28. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.
29. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
*Examine your heart this morning as we go to the Lord in silent prayer.
[1] Now we will remember the Lord’s body with this bread.
*We remember His Body with this bread, because Jesus is the Bread of Life. As He said in John 6:
35. "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
47. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.
48. I am the bread of life.
49. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
50. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.
51. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.''
PRAYER TO BLESS THE BREAD
PASSING OF THE BREAD
*The Apostle Paul said:
23. . . I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;
24. and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.'' (1 Cor 11:23-24)
TAKING THE BREAD
[2] We remember the Lord’s body and we remember His blood.
*The Apostle John wrote these words in Rev 1:4-6:
4. John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne,
5. And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,
6. And has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
*We remember the Lord’s blood, because He “loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. . .” The blood of Jesus Christ paid the price for every one of our sins. This cup represents the blood of Jesus Christ, the blood that He shed when He died on the cross for us.
PRAYER TO BLESS THE CUP
PASSING OF THE CUP
-“In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” (1 Cor 11:25)
TAKING THE CUP.
26. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes.
BENEDICTION
1. Adapted from ChristianGlobe.com sermon “A Terrific Trade” by Bill Bouknight - 2 Cor 5:17-21
2. Adapted from Sermons.com email illustration 02/22/2004
3. SermonCentral illustration submitted by Donnie Martin: Source: story told by Paul Lee Tan, found in “Our Daily Bread”
4. Adapted from “Just Give Me Jesus” by Anne Graham Lotz - (Nashville: Word Publishing, 2000), pp. 279-280 - (Source: Dynamic Preaching Sermon “The Divine Balance” by King Duncan - Reformation Day - Jeremiah 31:31-34; Romans 3:19-28; John 8:31-36 - 5th Sunday in October, 2001)
