Series: Jesus’ Blood for Me
“From His Bruises”
Titus 2:11-14
Pastor John Bright
Titus 2 “11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”
All of the other ways Jesus bled for you and me, there was an outward flow of blood. It was visible on the outside of His body. Not this one for today. This one is on the inside. Have you ever returned from the hospital with your arm black and blue?
A bruise is evidence of injury to the blood vessels under your skin. In the hospital, when you have an IV, the blood leaks and pools up under the skin of the arm. If you bump into something or someone hits you, small blood vessels under the skin burst and the blood leaks out. This is even more pronounced if you are taking a blood thinner. Today, if you have a little fender-bender, the airbag deploys and hits your nose. The next day you have two black eyes.
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The Shed Blood of His Bruises
When Jesus was bruised, blood was shed. It just stayed on the inside. The bruises Jesus sustained are powerful and effective for what is on the inside of you and me. If there is going to be a change in us, we have to GET TO THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM! (repeat)
From the first week of this series, we have continued to state the Biblical truth: Blood must be shed and blood must be applied. We looked back to the last plague in Egypt and God’s instruction for the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb. We have also gone back to Isaiah 53 again and again. In Isaiah 53:5 we read: “He was bruised for our iniquities.”
Today, we read Titus 2:14 “who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed.” In the KJV it is translated “redeem us from all iniquity.” Other translations use “wickedness” or “evil.” How about a quick review?
• Sin refers to unintentional wrongs
• Transgression refers to wrongs committed with full knowledge
• Iniquity refers to the inner motive behind sin and transgression – the motive, the why
How Iniquity Works
Growing up, I read science fiction and liked to watch the old sci-fi movies. Those movies are very different today. One common theme in the movies was life forms that come from outer space. If you killed it, you better get the whole thing! If they left just one piece of the alien, a new one would grow from that piece or maybe several aliens from the leftover piece.
Where did they get that idea from? I know, MY YARD. As soon as it gets warm outside, little yellow flowers appear in my yard. Soon, they become white puff-balls that delight little girls and boys on a windy day. You already know what I am talking about – the dreaded dandelion. Anybody, other than me, ever gone to war against the dandelions in your yard? You pull. You whack. You spray. If you don’t remove the whole root – ALL OF IT – they will come back again and again. Thinking about the dandelion:
• Iniquity is the root
• Sin is the flower
• Transgressions are the seeds that blow into the lives around us
Iniquity is the part that nobody can see, but you feel it. If you get hit hard enough to leave a bruise, it hurts.
Jesus was Hurt
We find two places in the Gospels where Jesus is hurt and bruised. Mark records the mock trial before the Jewish leadership: Mark 14:65 “Then some began to spit on Him, and to blindfold Him, and to beat Him, and to say to Him, “Prophesy!” And the officers struck Him with the palms of their hands.” Then, John writes about mistreatment by the Roman soldiers while Jesus is in their custody: John 19:3 “Then they said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they struck Him with their hands.” All these hits were hurts for Jesus.
We have all been bruised. We have all been injured on the inside. I’m not talking about a physical injury. We have been hurt emotionally and spiritually. Children who grow up in abusive homes have inner wounds. Children who grow up in homes with alcoholics have inner wounds. Children who grow up in homes where there is divorce have inner wounds. Maybe you grew up in a loving home, but you knew kids and teens who were unkind and uncaring. Maybe college was rough or you went to work and got caught up in the office politics. Maybe you were the one somebody else used as a stepping stone to the top.
All those inner wounds open the door for iniquity to drive our thoughts and actions. I have taught you a truth from the 12 Step programs: HURT PEOPLE, HURT PEOPLE. That’s why some iniquity flows from one generation to the next.
Some iniquity begins when we are very young, so it seems like it has always been there. That’s when some folks use the old excuse, “That’s just the way I am.” Here is one that’s much worse: “God made me that way.” Now, that could lead me into a controversial subject, and some of you might shut down, never hearing what I am trying to share today. So, I am going to address a different group of people who say God made me that way: nose pickers. No ‘nose picker’ is born that way. The majority of “nose pickers” identify as having grown up in dysfunctional families and experiencing abuse by a family member.
There is a concept we have lost in the church. If we see any deviation from God’s perfect design for relationships, it’s due to a manifestation of spiritual brokenness. It springs from inner wounds that result in outward transgressions that do not line up with God’s Holy Word.
Major Iniquities – THE BIG FOUR
ANGER – The transgressions of criticism, judgment, gossip, and unforgiveness all come from the iniquity of anger. Jesus talked about anger in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5, He quotes the 6th Commandment: “Thou shalt not murder.” Most of us believe we are “off the hook” for that one. Now, listen to where Jesus takes us: Matthew 5:21-22 “21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.” Did you catch that? Jesus equates anger with murder.
LUST – Jesus treats lust the same way: Matthew 5:27-28 “27 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” The iniquity is lust, and the transgression is adultery. Lust leads to all sexual perversions and addictions.
FEAR – The manifestation of fear often begins with being overly self-conscious. This leads to fear of people and fear of failure. The fear keeps us from moving forward to the place God wants us to go.
Isaiah 43:1 “But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name;
You are Mine.”
PRIDE—In all 49 places we find it, the Bible always treats pride as bad. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, several words are translated as "pride," but whichever word it is translated from, pride is always considered a bad thing. Pride manifests as selfishness, greed, and impatience. It always puts the focus on me-me-me-me.
Getting to the Root of the Matter
The message on this Sunday is to deal with the root of your problems. The root can be hard to see. There is brokenness in everyone that needs God’s healing. That healing for the root of your problems comes from the Blood of Jesus Christ. It comes from His bruises.
2 Timothy 2:19 “Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”
1 John 1:5-7 “5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
You and I can be made clean on the inside by the blood of Jesus because God sees the inside. He knows every root of iniquity. What we see are the seeds and the flowers that we have been spreading into the lives of others for a long time. Imagine if everyone in your neighborhood declared war on the dandelions. They are all determined to destroy the roots. That is, all but one. No matter what you do, that neighbor keeps on spreading the seeds into the yard of every neighbor.
We all know what that looks like. We know the inner pain. Now is the time to apply the blood of Jesus. It can happen today because God can do that work anytime and anywhere, even in a shed in my yard in Portsmouth, Virginia. I used to sit in that little shed to smoke cigarettes because I hid my smoking from my kids and my church members. It was a beautiful Spring day, and it hit me how ridiculous it was to be in that shed smoking. Then the thought came: “If I believed what I preached, I could say ‘take it from me Lord’ and that would be it.” So I did just that. A deep sense of peace and calm washed over me. I went in the house and proceeded to start tearing up packs of cigarettes. (btw – nobody quits before the end of a carton).
That was when my wife walked in and asked what I was doing. I told her what happened. She asked, “Do you have patches or gum?” You see, she was used to my frequent quitting and it only took a few days before I was mean and nasty to everyone. Maybe she was happy when I went back to smoking. This time, she held her breath for a few days and then said, “I think this is real.” I told her, “Yes, God has taken something out of me and given me peace.”
God gifted me with a supernatural deliverance from my addiction to cigarettes. What can God do for you today? Is today your day? Why wait? Amen.
Homework:
• Look up all the Bible verses on your teaching sheet. Are you still holding onto the pain from your past? What would it be like to live without that pain?
• Try to look back on family members who hurt you and others. Now, consider the 12-Step truth that HURT PEOPLE, HURT PEOPLE. What pain did those folks carry around from the ones who hurt them? This is not an excuse for what they did, but rather a way to understand how family trauma travels from one generation to the next. That is, until the generation where it is healed.
• Next week: Mark 16:1-14 “Believing is Seeing”
I’m thankful to Dr. Dale 1 M. Sides for his book, “Perfect Redemption: The Purpose of His Passion,” 2004. You can find the book through his website: https://lmci.org/
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TEACHING SHEET
Series: Jesus’ Blood for Me
“From His Bruises”
Titus 2:11-14
The Shed Blood of His Bruises
If there is going to be a change in us, we have to GET TO THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM!
How Iniquity Works
Thinking about the dandelion:
• Iniquity is the root
• Sin is the flower
• Transgressions are the seeds that blow into the lives around us
Iniquity is the part that nobody can see, but you feel it. If you get hit hard enough to leave a bruise, it hurts.
Jesus was Hurt
Mark 14:65 & John 19:3 All these hits were hurts for Jesus.
All those inner wounds open the door for iniquity to drive our thoughts and actions. I have taught you a truth from the 12 Step programs: HURT PEOPLE, HURT PEOPLE. That’s why some iniquity flows from one generation to the next.
There is a concept we have lost in the church. If we see any deviation from God’s perfect design for relationships, it’s due to a manifestation of spiritual brokenness. It springs from inner wounds that result in outward transgressions that do not line up with God’s Holy Word.
Major Iniquities – THE BIG FOUR
ANGER – The transgressions of criticism, judgment, gossip, and unforgiveness all come from the iniquity of anger. Matthew 5:21-22
LUST –Matthew 5:27-28 The iniquity is lust, and the transgression is adultery. Lust leads to all sexual perversions and addictions.
FEAR – The manifestation of fear often begins with being overly self-conscious. This leads to fear of people and fear of failure. The fear keeps us from moving forward to the place God wants us to go. Isaiah 43:1
PRIDE—Pride manifests as selfishness, greed, and impatience. It always puts the focus on me-me-me-me.
Getting to the Root of the Matter
2 Timothy 2:19 & 1 John 1:5-7
Imagine if everyone in your neighborhood declared war on the dandelions. They are all determined to destroy the roots. That is, all but one. No matter what you do, that neighbor keeps spreading the seeds into the yard of every neighbor.
God gifted me with a supernatural deliverance from my addiction to cigarettes. What can God do for you today? Is today your day? Why wait? Amen.
Homework:
• Look up all the Bible verses on your teaching sheet. Are you still holding onto the pain from your past? What would it be like to live without that pain?
• Try to look back on family members who hurt you and others. Now, consider the 12-Step truth that HURT PEOPLE, HURT PEOPLE. What pain did those folks carry around from the ones who hurt them? This is not an excuse for what they did, but rather a way to understand how family trauma travels from one generation to the next. That is, until the generation where it is healed.
• Next week: Mark 16:1-14 “Believing is Seeing”
I’m thankful to Dr. Dale 1 M. Sides for his book, “Perfect Redemption: The Purpose of His Passion,” 2004. You can find the book through his website:
https://lmci.org/ci.org/
