OPEN: As I was working on today’s sermon I was looking at some old Gospel hymns and I was pleasantly surprised at the # of hymns that - mentioned the blood of Christ. So I thought we’d do this this morning is sing just a few of them:
• Just as I am, without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thou bid’st me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come! I come!
• Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine; Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. (CHORUS) This is my story, this is my song – praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song – praising my Savior all the day long
• Would you be free from your burden of sin– there’s power in the blood, power in the blood. Would you o’er evil a victory win – there’s wonderful power in the blood. (CHORUS) There is power, power, wonder working power, in the blood of the lamb. There is power, power, wonder working power, in the precious blood of the lamb.
• Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing pow’r? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? (CHORUS) Are you washed in the blood, in the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Isn’t That Cool!? All that emphasis in all those hymns as well as contemporary Christian songs and other praise songs… and there are 100s more. But, why do these songs put so much emphasis on the blood of Jesus? Well, because the Bible puts a lot of emphasis on that BLOOD of Jesus.
One man put together a collection of what the Bible says about the Blood of Jesus
• Acts 20:28 = We were bought with blood.
• Romans 3:25 = We are forgiven through the blood.
• Romans 5:9 = We are justified by the blood.
• Ephesians 1:7 = We have redemption through His blood.
• Ephesians 2:12-15 = Peace was made through His blood.
• Hebrews 9:14 = We are cleansed by the blood.
• Hebrews 13:11-12 = We are made holy through His blood.
• I John 1:7 = We are purified from all sin through His blood.
• Revelation 12:11 = We overcome Satan through His blood. (Allen Webster)
The blood of Jesus is a powerful and effective force in our lives.
Now, this weekend is known around the world as Easter weekend. Even many non-Christians know that Bible tells us that Jesus died on Friday and rose on Sunday, and that He shed HIS BLOOD on that cross.
But now the question is… WHY? Why was His blood shed the cross? And why is that so important to us as Christians? What difference does it make that He died on the Cross?
Well, our passage this morning tells us why. 1 Peter says: “you were RANSOMED from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” I Peter 1:18-19
Do you know what “ransomed” means? Ransom is when you’re kidnapped by “bad guy” and held against your will. The people that love you might pay a RANSOM to get you back. The more important are to them… the higher the ransom can be.
John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Jesus came as a ransom for us. We were so important to God that Jesus paid for us with His blood. He died to buy us back from (pause) something. But what did He buy us back FROM?
The ESV (the version we use here in church) says we were ransomed from the “Futile ways inherited from our forefathers.” Futile means “empty.” That’s why another version says that we were bought back from “our EMPTY way of life” (I Peter 1:18 HCSB)
Now, WHAT would make our lives “empty”? The answer: The emptiness in our lives is there because we’ve been cut off from our God.
ILLUS: There was a famous psychologist named Carl Jung who wrote: “Those psychiatrists who are not superficial have come to the conclusion that the vast neurotic misery of the world could be termed a neurosis of EMPTINESS. Men cut themselves off from the root of their being, from God, and then life turns empty, inane, meaningless, without purpose. So when God goes, goal goes. When goal goes, meaning goes. When meaning goes, value goes, and life turns dead on our hands.” (Ray C. Stedman in his sermon “Darkness of Mind” quoting Jung’s letter to E. Stanley Jones).
If God is not in our lives, there’s no PURPOSE for us. There’s no REASON for our existence. There’s no HOPE that life is going to get any better than what it is. And there’s no FUTURE beyond the grave.
If we are cut off from God in our lives, then our lives will be empty. That’s what Jung was saying - and that’s what the Bible has always said. And the Bible says - that what cuts us off from God is our sin.
Now, people inherently know this. I mean - you know it’s true. That’s why - when you do something you ought not to do - you experience shame and guilt. That’s why – when you remember bad things from your past - there’s this wave of painful regret sweeps over you.
And so, a lot of people sense the need to PAY for their sins (pause) somehow. Many believe if they can just do enough “Good Things” then they can cover the BAD things. That’s why many people (when asked if they’re going to heaven) wonder if they’ve been GOOD ENOUGH to go to please God.
ILLUS: There’s this big dark spot in their lives, and they’re wondering if the sheet they’ve placed over their shame is BIG ENOUGH to hide their past, or if that darkness they feel is peeking out someplace.
ILLUS: Reader’s Digest article once told of a 67-year-old man named Bill who had donated over 100 pints of blood over the years. No doubt many people owe their lives to this man’s kindness. When asked if his good deeds would get him into heaven he replied “When that final whistle blows, and St. Peter asks, ‘What did you do?’ I’ll just say, ‘Well, I gave 100 pints of blood. That ought to get me in.”
I’ve got news for Bill - his 100 pints of blood aren’t going to cut it. In fact, you could give all your blood to Red Cross, you could give all your possessions to the poor, you could give your life to save the life of someone else… and you still couldn’t pay off the sins of your past.
The Bible tells us that there’s only one blood that can cover my sins, and that’s the blood of Jesus. Only His blood can pay the debt of my failures. Why is that? Well, because MY blood is tainted. My good deeds are stained. Romans 3:10 declares: “None is righteous, no, not one.” No matter what I might do to pay for my sins, they’d still be there.
ILLUS: Have you ever seen a farm where the owner has put their old rusty cars, trucks, and refrigerators out in their woods? Why did they do that? Out of sight – out of mind! The trees hide their trash… but the trash is still there!!! (PAUSE) At least until someone comes along and hauls it away.
That’s kind of what happens when people try to hide their sins behind their good deeds. Out of sight… out of mind. But the sins are still there… UNLESS someone comes along and hauls it away.
That’s what Easter is all about. You see, Jesus not only died to forgive your sins, He rose from the dead to clean everything up and give you a new life.
That’s what Romans 6 tells us: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:1-4
You see, when you’re baptized into Christ, you’ve died to your sins. Your sins lay at the bottom of that water.
But when you rise up out of the baptistry you rise to “walk in newness of life.” You die to your sins by the power of the Cross, and you rise to live a new life by the power of the resurrection. That’s why the CROSS and the EMPTY TOMB are so central to Christianity.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZT_SzPmFMs
Now Jesus did all that for us. He died was buried and rose from the grave to give you and I salvation. He did it all! You can’t do anything to EARN God’s forgiveness. You can’t EARN IT… but you can do things to ACCEPT IT.
1. Believe in Jesus - Acts 16:31 “BELIEVE in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” There’s no great series of lessons that you need to go to classes to learn. All you need to know, to be saved, is that Jesus is who He said He was – the Son of God. And that He came to die on the cross for your sins.
2. Repent of your sins - Acts 2:38 “REPENT and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Repentance is a constant theme in Scripture. It’s the acceptance of the fact that you need to turn away from sin and turn toward God.
3. Confess Jesus as Lord – Romans 10:9 “… if you CONFESS with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Notice it doesn’t talk about confessing sins, but in confessing that Jesus will now be the Lord of your life – you are giving Him full control of all that you have and all that you are.
4. Get buried in the waters of baptism – I Peter 3:21 “BAPTISM… now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” The power of baptism is not in the water, but in the resurrection of Christ. We die, are buried and rise to walk in newness of life.
It’s as simple as that. Faith in Jesus, repentance of your sins, confession of Jesus as Lord and being buried in the waters of baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
CLOSE: I want to close with the story of a man who did just that. A man who became a Christian because he heard about Jesus’ blood. He was an important official from Ethiopia who had to Jerusalem to worship God. We call him the Ethiopian eunuch. In Acts 9 we’re told that this Ethiopian Eunuch was riding in his chariot, and was reading from the book of Isaiah… but he didn’t understand what he was reading. Unknown to him, God had arranged for a man named Philip to be in the area to witness to him.
And we’re told “The Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go over and join this chariot.’ So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ And the (Ethiopian) said, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: ‘Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.’” Acts 9:32-33
This part of Isaiah 53 is a small section of the powerful prophecy Isaiah made about coming Messiah. It says “he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5
“And the eunuch said to Philip, ‘About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?’” And it says Philip started with that Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
The Ethiopian was so overwhelmed by what he heard that, as they were going along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” Acts 8:36
“And he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any longer. But he went on his way rejoicing.” Acts 8:38-39
ONE LAST THOUGHT: Did you see what the Ethiopian did after he was baptized? He went on his way rejoicing. He was so excited about Jesus it changed his whole life. Now I realize this is Easter and we have many guests… but most of you are baptized believers and the world is watching to see if Jesus has made any difference in your life.
Rick (who gave the communion meditation) spoke of going into a greeting card store and looking through the Easter card selection. He said he was surprised that he found NO cards that mentioned Jesus or the empty tomb. He saw plenty of bunny rabbits and fuzzy bears… and even a card with an Easter prayer and another with a beautiful church building on the front. But nothing about Jesus. But why should there be? These cards are made by secular companies who has no interest in Jesus. Jesus hasn’t changed their lives so why should they shout His praises in the marketplace? Let’s face it, the world has no interest in a risen Savior, because He hasn’t become THEIR savior. But He is yours. And if we don’t others the reason we’re excited about Jesus, no one else will have a reason to.
INVITATION
